Getting Back
by jhvh777
Summary: During a battle with a mysterious dragon, Rockman and the gang are sent to the land of Final Fantasy. Now they must find a way to get home. RMxFF cross. Discontinued
1. Chapter 1

Ok, I came up with this when I was bored and 'slap happy' after the AP test was over. This idea is what happens when I have nothing to do and am bored for twenty minutes. I chose to use the Japanese names because I like them better.

**Begin Chapter**

Explosions. That's all that anyone in the city could see. Flashes of lightning, the occasional scream of pain, and the voice that announced when Navi's were deleted or logged out. "We can do this! We just have to fight har-!" came a voice in the mist. But in the middle of the speech, the speaker had been hit with a jolt of lightning.

"Rock!" came a female voice. She ran over to the fallen Navi's side. "Meiru, I need a full recov. chip here pronto. Rock's taken a lot of damage."

"It's on it's way Roll," came the Op's voice. Roll's hands glowed white, and they healed the navi in front of her.

"Thanks Roll-chan," he said as he stood up and started firing his Rockbuster at the giant dragon. "Netto, could you send me a battle chip? This is an electric type dragon."

"Sure," said Netto, and sent his Navi a bamboo sword.

"Enzan, I'll gladly take a long-sword to distract this behemoth," said Blues. Enzan sent the desired chip as Dex sent Gutsman a Bulk chip. Gutsman grew to twice his size, and started to charge the Nova Dragon.

"Get back here you coward!" screamed Forte as he charged the Dragon with a dark sword drawn.

"Searchman, here's a hyper sword," said Laika as he sent the chip. Searchman grabbed the hilt of the sword, and joined in the fight. Blues, Forte and Searchman started slicing the beast, Gutsman charged it in blind fury, Rock was trying to protect himself and Roll from the lightning blast with his sword, and Roll was making sure that he didn't get deleted using her Full Recov. Chips. The dragon was trying to destroy everyone and everything in its path. All of the sudden, a bright oval of light surrounded the six Navis and dragon. None of them could move.

"_This is not good. We have to get out of here!" _Rock thought frantically as his bamboo sword continued to hold back the frozen lightning bolt.

"Rock!" called Netto as he slotted in a salamander chip. "Try to break through using the Salamander Chip!" Rock accessed it, but the moment he was engulfed in the flames, the chip froze.

"_It's not working!" _he thought as he tried to move. _"Netto!"_ With that thought, they all disappeared in a flash of light.

---

"When do you think that he'll wake up?" came a male voice that Rock had never heard before.

"I don't know. Let's let him rest now. He _was_ pretty banged up," said a new female voice. Rock gathered enough strength to open his eyes. "He's waking up!"

"Welcome," said an odd man in a large straw hat and a blue jacket. "You gave some of our scouts and us quite a scare."

"What happened to me?" Rock asked. _"Well, I guess that I'm not in Internet City anymore."_

"You were found in the middle of an enormous battlefield. You were found near the unconscious body of the Nova Dragon. There were other people with you, before you ask, we don't help anyone other than black mages like yourself," said the old mage.

"Where am I?" Rock asked. "And what is a black mage?" All three occupants in the room looked at each other.

"What do you mean 'what is a black mage'? You're a black mage, I'm a black mage, my brother and father are black mages too," said the girl.

"Ah, Sorano, I do believe that he's new to Windurst," said the brother.

"Kisho, he's level 5. You know as well as I do that noobs are level one," said Sorano.

"Both of you be quiet while I answer this young man's questions. In case you couldn't tell, you are in the magic city of Windurst. All mages start here. There are four types of mages. White mages, who are healers, Black mages, like us, who are in control of elements, Red mages, who disgrace the name mage with the skills of the lowly fighter, and the Blue mage, who basically study all day. Black mages are seen as bad, mainly because the majority of us are pyros. Any other questions?" asked the father.

"Yea, what are fighters and are there anything other than mages, and what am I wearing?" Rock was in a light blue shirt with dark pants on.

"Fighters are swordsmen who are known for their sub par intellect. All that they really care about are swords. There are also Thieves, Dark Knights, Magic Knights, berserkers, and beastmasters. There's not much to know about them other than you don't want to be on the opposite side of a berserker and that knights are like fighter. And you're wearing what you showed up in, which is odd. Most black mages end up looking like me. Now, you should get some rest," said the old man.

"Could I take a look around the city first?" Rock asked.

"No. I'm sorry but you need to rest now, you lost a lot of HP in the fight, and you need to recover your strength. I'm going to take you to the School of Mages. Oh I almost forgot. My name is Tomo."

---

Blues, Searchman and Forte were having a little better of a time finding out information on where they were. "Bastok" was the answer to that question. They had found a different person to answer the rest of their questions. "Tall one," the man said while pointing to Blues, "You're a fighter. Shortie," he said while pointing to Forte "You're a Dark Knight. And you" he said while pointing to Searchman, "Are a Red Mage. And before you ask, I know because of the way that you're dressed."

"Thank you," said Searchman as the fighter walked off. "Well, that was helpful."

"Yeah, I just hope that I don't have to stick with you two losers. I just want to finish off that dragon that destroyed my home," said Forte.

"Well, we should find the rest of our group. Rock, Roll and Gutsman are still missing," said Blues, who was swinging his sword around.

"Who said my name de gutsu?" came a slow and stupid voice from behind a corner. Gutsman walked over and saw their group. He was as tall and stout as ever, only he was human-like in appearance and was wearing an animal skin outfit.

"Gutsman?' asked Searchman, unsure if this behemoth was their friend.

"Yes de gutsu?"

"What happened to you?" asked Blues as he put his sword back in its sheath

"I don't know. All I remember is waking up in a bar, de gutsu. They told me I was a Berserker, de gutsu," said Gutsman.

"Ok, well, I'm leaving to go and find a way out of this nut house," said Forte as he turned around. Blues grabbed him by his hair (which is long and purple) before he got too far.

"No, you're going to stick with us. We all have to get back," said Blues as he unsheathed his sword and threatened Forte with it.

"Fine," came the reply. "Shouldn't we see the person in charge of this city and see if he can get us back?"

"Ok," said Searchman.

"Well, now that that's settled," said Blues, "We should get going. I don't want to be out here all night." And with that, they walked towards the castle.

---

"Well Roll, you have some very good experience for a low level White Mage," said Gin, lead White mage in Windurst. "You are level two, and I would suggest that we go and to the school tomorrow to get you some training."

"Thank you," said Roll with a bow. She was wearing the normal white mage clothing, and was sitting in an enormous room filled with spell books and healing vials.

"Don't worry, we'll find your friends. We have contacts with every major city. I'm sure that they'll be ok," said the homely woman. "You know, you aren't the first person to arrive under mysterious circumstances. There must have been reports of 10 new White mages, 15 fighters, and 5 Black mages."

"Wow," was all that Roll could say.

"Here's something that will make you feel better," said Gin as she handed Roll a book. "It's a book of healing spells. White mages are the healers of the group, as you know, and we need to know how to heal all sorts of wounds. This is one of the best books that I own, and I want you to have it."

"Thank you," Roll said. "I think that I'll go to bed now."

"Ok, your room is down the hall and to the right. Goodnight," said Gin as she started cleaning the room.

---

The next morning, Rock and his new friends went to the School of Mages. "Ok," said Sorano, "We're not going to mingle with the other mages. We're going straight to the Black Mage area. Kisho might take you to the White mage area later on. He likes to flirt." Rock just smiled at this remark.

"Ok, well, we can talk about my love life after we get some training done," said Kisho. They walked through a black gate and into a training area. Rock's eyes opened in shock. He had heard that black mages were in control of elements, but he hadn't expected forests, lakes, ice, and fires. "Now, we're going to see Hideaki-sensei. He will set you on the right track on getting stronger."

"Ok," said Rock as they walked up the steps towards the building. "So he's the main black mage of Windurst?"

"Yep," said Sonaro. "He's an awesome teacher. He'll make sure that you can get home." He had told the family last night of his life before Windurst, and they decided to help him hind his way back. The first step was him strong enough to travel on his own to Black Mage City. "HIDEAKI-SENSEI!"

"Hello," said the mage. "I see that you have a new student for me. Tomo sent me news of him this morning. I will be training you personally."

"Arigato Hideaki-sensei," said Rock, bowing to his new teacher.

"Show me what you've got."

**End Chapter**

Well, do ya like it? I haven't actually played any of the Final Fantasy games, but I have done my 'research' aka hanging out with my friends who are MMORPG fans, and i hope that no one cares if I make up some moves for the characters to use! READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! Request a move for any of the 'species' in FF, and I'll try to add it in


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, I REALLY need more reviews. I just got 1 review and a bunch of hits. Oh, and I'm not having Rock be Saito. He isn't Netto's brother in this one. He has always been a netnavi.

**Begin Chapter**

It had been three days since Forte, Blues, Searchman and Gutsman had gotten a call from Roll in Windurst saying that she was fine and asking them to come. They had packed up and left the next day, and were currently 50 miles out of the city. After all of their travels, they had gained 10 levels. Blues was currently level 13, along with Searchman. Forte was currently level 14, while Gutsman was level 12. "Ya think we could have gone any slower?" asked Forte.

"Yes, we could have stayed in Bastok for a few more days. They had this really awesome sword that I wanted," said Blues. Searchman and Forte sweat-dropped.

"I guess it's true what the mages say about Fighters. They really can't think about anything but swords," said Searchman with a smirk.

"Hurry up, de gutsu. Guts hungry," said Gutsman.

"What have I been telling ya?" asked Forte as he started walking faster. _"I can't believe that I'm stuck with these idiots!"_

"Halt! Who goes there?" asked a guard as they approached the outskirts of the city.

"Blues, Forte, Searchman, and Gutsman from Bastok. We're here to see someone," said Searchman.

"You may pass," said the Guard as he stepped aside.

"Thank you," said Blues as they entered the city. What they saw shocked them. The city, known to be the home of the mages, looked like a city built as a forest. All the homes were covered in moss, and were built out of wood. "Didn't someone say that black mages lived here?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked a young female black mage. "Not all black mages are pyros. Heck, this city was rebuilt by black mages. _We_ told the trees to grow like this! You have a problem with that Fighter?" She practically spat the last word.

"Now you listen here," stared Blues angrily when an old black mage showed up.

"All of you stop fighting. Tensions are tight enough with Bastok as is, Sorano. We need to be getting to the school," said the old man as they walked off.

"Well, we sure got a warm welcome. Way to go Blues," said Forte.

"Find Roll-chan, de gutsu," said Gutsman.

"Yes, we need to find Roll. She said that she was staying with someone named Gin. We'd better find out who that is," said Searchman as he started to walk down the street.

"Hello travelers," said one of the merchants that had a shop set up. "Do any of you need some help?"

"Yes, do you know of a Gin? One of our friends is at her house," said Blues.

"Well, there's Gin Lian who lives down the street. She's a white mage, and I heard that she took in a poor lost soul," said the merchant.

"Thanks," said Forte as they walked off. "Down the street, how helpful." But that description had been helpful. Down the street, there was a house with gigantic silver willow trees outside of it.

"Did anyone else notice that Gin Lian means 'silver graceful willow'?" asked Searchman.

"Yep, this is the place," said Blues as they walked up the front path and knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!" came a flowing voice from inside. After a few seconds, the door opened and a middle aged white mage opened the door. "Hello there. You must be Roll's friends. Come in, come in."

"Thank you Lian-san," said Searchman.

"Please, call me Gin," she said with a sweet smile. "Roll dear, your friends are here!"

"Already!" came an excited voice, followed by the sound of someone running through a hallway. "Guys!" she squealed as she went and gave each of them a hug. "Where's Rock?"

"Guts don't know, de gutsu," said Gutsman.

"We thought he'd be with you," said Forte. "We'd better go and find him."

"You all look so tired, you shouldn't go out right now," said Gin.

"And why not?" asked Forte, clearly annoyed.

"Because there's a storm coming. And not any normal storm," said Gin.

"What do you mean?" asked Roll.

"The school is about to be attacked." Everyone just stood in silence.

"Shouldn't we do something then?" asked Blues.

"No, this storm was created by Black mages. The battle is about to begin," she said, downhearted. "But they have Hideaki there. They'll be fine. Why don't we have some tea to calm our nerves?"

"Gin-san," said Searchman. "Why don't you want us to help?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about," said Gin. "All I know is that the test for the new batch of Black mages is coming up, and that they don't like interference. It just makes me sad when I think of all the mages that will get hurt. When I was younger, they used to let the white mages heal the rejected mages, but now, they hardly ever let anyone other than blacks there."

"What do you mean by 'rejected'?" asked Forte.

"Only mages worthy of fighting to protect Black Mage City are selected," said Gin. "The rest are forced to live somewhere else for the rest of their lives. They are never allowed to visit loved ones, or friends who were selected, unless they come out of the city."

"Guys," said Roll in a soft voice. "How many groups of people are there in this world?"

"Um, nine," said Blues.

"And none of us are from the same group, are we?"

"No, de gutsu."

"That means that Rock has a one in four chance of being a black mage," she said.

"And he has a one in four chance of being attacked today," said Blues.

"We have to get over to the school right now!" said Roll starting to freak out.

"No!" said Gin. "They'll kill all of you! When they say 'no interference' they mean it!"

"So, we're just going to wait till the fights over," said Forte. "Sounds good to me. Gin, could I have some of that tea?"

---

"KEEP FIGHTING!" yelled Hideaki through the smoke. _"That's just like these people. No respect for what anyone might be doing at the time."_

"Hello commander. This is a nice bunch you have for us," said the General who was in charge of the test.

"Well, I still could have used one more day. Rock, the one in the blues, came three days ago," said Hideaki.

"He's one of the one's we're considering taking even if he falls in the battle. I have heard that you've been training him personally."

"Yes," said the instructor with a small smile on his face. "He's one of my best fighters. He has the most heart. Apparently, Sorano found him on the battlefield protecting a white mage. He was going to go to Black Mage City even if you didn't choose him. He was going to trek there."

"Let's save him the trouble then. Call him up here; I want to see how well he obeys his superiors."

"ROCK! GET UP HERE NOW!" yelled Hideaki. Rock looked up at where his instructor was, and saw the leader of the "enemy" cornering his friend. Running through the battle, dodging fireballs, ice bombs, and javelins, he made it to the top of the tower.

"What do you want with Hideaki-sensei?" asked Rock to the general.

"Rock," said the teacher. "This is the head of security for BMC. This is how he chooses who is going to go there, this is not an attack. He wanted to have a word with you."

"Yes, and I see that you already obey without hesitation. I am twenty levels above you, and yet you were ready to attack me. Very good. I want you to come with us. The test is over, and you passed," said the General as he offered his had to shake. Rock smiled and shook it. "Time for me to call off the rest of the troops." The General then pulled out a black whistle, and blew one note. That one note was enough to bring everyone still fighting to their knees in pain.

"What the hell was that?" asked Rock as he stood back up.

"It's a special whistle that emits a high pitched sound that only black mages can hear, I use it to get everyone's attention," he said as he pocked the small item and addressed the rest of the congregation, "Everyone, congratulations. You have passed the test. You are all accepted into the Black Mage Military. Will you all please step into the air-ship and wait for further instruction."

"Rock," said Hideaki, "That means you too. It's been an honor to train you. You have grown considerably in these three days. Level 15, I can't believe it." The two shook hands, and Rock and The General walked onto the ship.

"General, I have a question," said Rock.

"Yes."

"I need to find a way back to my home, and I need to find the rest of my friends. I have a good feeling that one is a white mage, but I don't know about the rest. When I get to the city, could I have permission to search for answers?" The general thought for a moment before answering.

"That would be for or leader to decide." Rock nodded his head as the ship took off.

---

Back at Gin's, Roll watched as a black airship took off. "Gin, I think the examiners are leaving."

"Well then, we should get going," she replied. "Ok everyone, up. Time to go."

"Yes, Gin-san," said Searchman as they gathered their belongings and started out the door.

"Roll, did you get your scrolls?"

"I almost forgot. You go on, I'll catch up," she said as she ran back into the house.

"What does she need scrolls for anyway?" asked Forte.

"White mages study the scrolls so that we can cast spells. We're not very good at combat, but we heal those who are so they can keep fighting," said Gin as they stared towards the school.

"And these are how she levels up then," said Blues as Roll came up with a bag of scrolls over her shoulder.

"Sorry about that. These are really good scrolls, and I don't want to have to buy some new ones. They'd be expensive," she said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Guts carry scrolls for Roll-chan, de gutsu," said Gutsman. Roll smiled and handed the bag to him. "These are heavy, de gutsu."

"Yes," said Roll. "I'll carry them if they're too heavy for you."

"No, I'm sure our little berserker friend can carry it just fine," said Forte.

"Forte, let's not start a fight," said Searchman. "You remember what happened last time."

""What happened last time?" asked Roll.

"Our little friend here was treed for an hour before Gutsman calmed down enough to think," said Blues with one of his famous smirks.

"Oh," said Roll with a smile. "I can't believe I missed that."

"If Forte keeps insulting Gutsman, you'll get to see it again," said Searchman as Gin giggled. "What?"

"It's just that this looks really funny. A white mage, fighter, dark knight, red mage, and a berserker walking down the street, chatting," she said. "This is a rare sight indeed."

"School, de gutsu," said Gutsman as they walked in.

"Ok, we're going to the black mage area. I'm hope that they're going to take some help cleaning up." They knocked on the door, and a middle aged black mage opened it.

"Ah, Gin," said Hideaki nicely. "How nice to see you. And I see you brought a pupil and some, er, other people. What do you need?"

"We were wondering if you needed any help cleaning up," said Gin. Hideaki stepped aside and let them pass. "And they are searching for one of their friends. They were separated in a battle."

"Well, you all need to help, and then I'll tell you everything I know," said Hideaki. The knights and fighter were assigned to help clear some of the wreckage, while Gutsman was told to move the large stone pieces. Roll and Gin were healing the rejected, and Hideaki was burning the remnants of the forest.

"What happened over there?" asked Blues.

"Oh, some of the examiners decided that it would be good to see how well they stood against the javelins. These come out of the ground and impale everything above them," said Hideaki as he finished clearing the area. "Ok, is everything ready?"

"Yes, we put everything where you told us too," said an annoyed Forte.

"And is everyone healed?"

"Yes," said Roll as she finished the last person.

"Everyone, it's time to fix this mess. Forest goes to your left, ice to your right, a lake right behind you, and don't forget to fix the tower. Just send the wood there, and it'll do the rest. Go!" Hideaki told the mages. All the others stood in amazement as the land became lush and fertile. The forest grew back, and the ice castle rebuilt itself. The lake refilled, and the tower was replenished.

"Wow," said Roll.

"Yes, this area gets better and better after every exam," said Gin. "I guess they had a higher standard this time. These are pretty good mages."

"The General himself came, and he even hand-selected one of my students," said Hideaki. "Now, who was it that you wanted to tell me about? Start with his name."

"His name is Rock," said Roll. "He's about as tall as me, a little taller, and he,"

"Was hand selected by the General," finished Hideaki.

"Wh-what?" asked Roll. "But, why?"

"Because he's a great fighter. He obeys instructions without hesitation," said Hideaki. "Don't worry about finding him. I have a feeling that he will come looking for you."

"We have to go and find him!" said Roll, who was on the verge of tears.

"No," said Gin. "He's going to be trained. You don't mess with a Black mage military officer when they're working with a pupil."

"Ok," said Forte. "I guess that we can just go and do quests until he comes back."

"Forte, do you have no heart?" asked Blues. "We need all of us together to get home. Our Op's are probably worried sick!"

"That's why I don't have one," said Forte. "I work alone."

"So why are you on a team?" asked Hideaki. Forte just snarled and pulled out his sword. "I wouldn't suggest threatening me. I'm fifteen levels above you."

"He has a point," said Searchman. "We should go and try to find out where the mages are, though."

"Ok," said Gin. "They're most likely in the badlands training."

"Badlands, de gutsu?"

"Yes, they're doing survival training. The badlands is just another name for an area with few towns that helps them gain levels faster," said the one of the black mages. "The mages are put into teams of four, and they have to make it to the city."

"I heard that there are high level monsters there, and that's why they don't go easy on us here," said another mage. "They want to make sure that we're strong enough."

"Well, those rumors are true," said Hideaki. "Now, who wants something to eat?"

---

"Ok Rock," said The General as their ship landed in the middle of a large field. "You will be teamed up with Min, Lykaios, and Tabor. Have fun." With that he and the rest of the examiners went back to the ship.

"Hey Rock, that's a cool name," said Min. She was around five foot five, with long black hair, which was pulled up into a ponytail. She was wearing a long-sleeve magenta and black shirt with black sleeves. She had a matching hat, and a black mini skirt. She was carrying a staff. "But you may want to choose a new name. That name is too easily recognized."

"Um, ok," he said as another member of his team walked up and shook his hand.

"My name is Lykaios," said the boy. He was built like Blues, and he wore black-plate armor. He carried no weapon. "And this is Tabor," he said indicating the other boy. He was five foot ten, wore blue-plate armor and carried a shield.

"Nice to meet you," said Tabor. "And Min is right, your name really sticks out. Almost as much as your armor." Rock looked at his armor. It was black with blue flames on the legs and arms.

"Hey, my armor is cool," he said teasingly. "And I think that Min will draw more attention to us than me."

"He's right guys," she said. "But we need to get moving. Rock have you chosen your new name yet?"

"Um, Lucio?" he asked after thinking for a few minutes.

"Why Lucio?" asked Tabor.

"It means light. Hikari was my last name, and it means light also, so why not?" he asked.

"Ok, as long as you have a reason," said Lykaios. "I chose my name because it means wolf. Wolves live in a pack, and that's what we're doing."

"I chose Min because it means cleverness," she said with a smile. "I'm very clever."

"Tabor means drummer," he said.

"What were your original names then?" asked Rock, or as we will call him, Lucio.

"Mine was Helen," said Min.

"David," said Tabor.

"Runako," said Lykaios. The other two snickered at his name. "And quit laughing. It's not my fault that my name means handsome."

"Hey, well, Rock is just a nickname I've picked up," lied Rock. "My old name was Brant."

"Ok, well, why don't we just keep our new names? They're much cooler," said Min as they started walking. "So, what level is everyone? Mine's 14."

"15, said Rock.

"15.5," said Tabor.

"14.5," said Lykaios. "So, are we going to try and rough it in the wilderness or are we going to go by the roads?"

"I say we level up in the wilderness," Tabor suggested. "I mean, we can get water whenever we want, and if we need to stop and get some food, we can always stop by the towns on the road."

"Ok," said Rock, "wilderness it is. And could we go by our nicknames if we want to?"

"Sure thing Rock, but if anyone asks your name, it's Lucio, not Brant," said Min.

--- Three hours and fifteen dead enemies later---

"Ok guys, I'm tired," said Min. "I think that it's time we set up camp."

"Sure thing," said Rock as he created four tents out of wood.

"Are you the one who was trained by Hideaki?" asked Tabor.

"Yep, how'd ya know?" he joked.

"Hideaki did that all the time," said Lykaios. "I'll get the fire started." He created a fire pit and blew the flames to life.

"Ok, do y'all still have the meat?" asked Min.

"Here it is," said Tabor as he handed her the steaks. They had found a wandering cow, and had killed and cleaned it for their meal. Min took the steaks and started cooking dinner.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to go and stargaze 'till supper's done," said Rock.

"Sure thing. We'll call ya when we're done," said Min. Rock walked over to an open area in the field and sat down.

"_I can't believe this,"_ he thought. _"I have no idea where the rest of my friends are. I don't even know what dimension I'm in. I feel like I'm lost. The leader of the mages has to let me find the rest of my friends. Well, I have a feeling that I'm going to be the strongest when I get back. Two more levels under my belt, and I'm getting more control over my powers. I just hope that it's enough."_ He looked up at the moon, and saw that there were two. _"I just have to get back."_

**End Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

I'm giving up on trying to get you to review. Just review when it's all said and done. And, I'm using the places from Final Fantasy XI, and characters from them all.

**Begin Chapter**

That night at Gin's house, Roll made dinner. "What is this?" asked Forte as he was handed a plate.

"It's just some salad," she replied as she sat down and began to eat.

"No meat?" asked Blues.

"That'll come after you eat all of your salad," Gin said smiling.

"Ok," said Forte as he began his dinner. "So, why do we need Rock anyway? Why don't we just find a way back by ourselves?"

"Forte!" said Roll. "We can't just leave him here. What if he gets in trouble?"

"I'm sure that he'll be fine Roll," said Searchman. "By the way, this salad is delicious."

"Thank you," she said as she sat down.

"So, what will you be doing until your friend resurfaces?" asked Gin.

"I was thinking of going back to Bastok and working on our skills," said Blues.

"That sounds nice," said Roll. "And I could work on mine too."

"Why don't we leave in a few days?" asked Searchman.

"Ok, de gutsu," Gutsman answered.

---

-Two days later-

"Papa, we have to find them!" cried a worried Netto. He, Meiru, Enzan, Deako, and Laika were waiting for any sign of their navi's in Dr.  
Hikari's office.

"I know that Netto, and I'm worried about them too, but we first have to find out where they are. I'm having trouble finding their signals," said Hikari-hakase. "As soon as I find those, we can start planning on what we're going to do."

"Ok," Netto said as he walked out of his father's office, followed by Meiru.

"Netto," she said, "We're all worried about our Navi's, but I'm sure that they're safe, happy, and together. We're going to find them soon."

"I hope you're right."

---

Unfortunately for Rock, Meiru was wrong. "Keep firing!" he yelled to the rest of his team. They were making their way to BMC when they were  
randomly attacked by a level thirty Phoenix. Rock's group had gained ten levels, so they felt like they could take it.

"What do you think we're doing?" yelled Tabor. "Knitting?"

"What, you mean this isn't the knitting circle?" asked Min.

"Just shut up and shoot this bird," said Lykaios. Suddenly, the Phoenix unleashed a humongous fire-ball right at Lykaios and Tabor. Both were the same level, but Lykaios sustained way more damage than Tabor. "What the hell?"

"Let me try to use a water attack," Tabor said as he released a giant water jet. The bird shrieked and tried to dry itself.

"My turn," said Min as she zapped the bird with lightning. The water acted as a conductor, and the bird was fried, but not defeated.

"I'll finish it," said Rock as he created a small pillar of fire. But instead of shooting the phoenix, he grabbed the pillar and changed it into a fire-sword. He then charged the bird, and stabbed it in the neck. "That takes care of that."

"Lykaios, you ok buddy?" Min asked as she walked over to her friend.

"I guess. But I have a question," he said.

"What is it?" asked Rock as his sword evaporated.

"Are we joined with an element or something?"

"We may be," said Tabor after thinking for a minute. "My water attacks are always stronger than anything."

"And my electric," said Min.

"And Fire for me," said Rock.

"Finally, wood. I guess we're elemental Black Mages," said Lykaios. "This explains so much." Suddenly, Min pushed Lykaios, who had just gotten his balance, into a bush. "What was that for?"

"Wood should heal wood, right?" she said. Sure enough, Lykaios' wounds began to disappear. "You know what this means."

"What?" asked the boys.

"New nicknames. Man, by the time we make it to BMC, we're going to have so many aliases," she said.

"Do we have to?" asked Tabor.

"Yep.""And what if we don't want to?" asked Rock.

"Then I'll chose them for you," she said. "Brant, you're going to be called Trog Dor the Burninator. David, you'll be Wee Man. Handsome,  
you're Woodsman, and I'll be Sparky."

"Wee Man?"

"Trog Dor?"

"Whatever."

---

"Roll, I don't think that it's a good idea for you to go with them to Bastok," Gin said that night.

"Why?"

"Because, although you know them, they might have changed since coming here."

"Changed? How?"

"Well, you told me that Rock would never abandon you or your friends, that he'd do everything in his power to stay with you, in particular.  
But Hideaki said that he left when he was told to. He didn't put up a fight, and he wasn't positive that you'd be at his destination. Would he  
abandon you and your friends in your world?"

"He didn't abandon us," said Roll angrily. "I'm sure that he had a perfectly good reason for leaving. And for all he knew, we are at the  
city that he's going to!"

"Roll," Gin said calmly, "Many people are pulled into our world, and almost all of them change. You also said that Forte was evil in your world, but he has been positively sweet to me."

"That's probably because he's stuck with us," she said. "And if not, that's a change for the better!"

"But if Forte changed sides, then what's keeping us from inferring that Rock…"

"Don't you EVER talk bad about Rock!" Roll screamed at the elder mage.

"I'm not talking bad about him, I'm just saying that there's a chance that he has decided to, well, join the elites in the military."

"And what's so bad about becoming the best that he can?" Roll asked dangerously.

"Nothing, other than the fact that most of them are evil," Gin retorted.

"Rock won't become evil," said Roll. "And I've made up my mind; I'm going even if it is a bad idea. I trust my friends, even if you don't.  
You can keep your scrolls, too. I've already learned all I can from them."

"Fine, but don't come crying to me when something happens to you," said Gin as Roll walked out of the room and into the room where the guys were getting ready.

"Everything packed?" she asked.

"Almost," said Blues. "All we need are your things."

"Let me just go and grab those. And I need to run a few errands before we leave," she said as she went to her room. "I have a few things I need to sell."

"Such as?" asked Gin who had just walked into the room.

"The scrolls that I bought. I don't need them anymore," Roll said coolly as she walked to the door. "I won't be gone too long."

---

"So these are starter level White Mage scrolls?" asked Kisho. "They're in excellent condition. Why are you offering to sell these to me?"

"Because you have information about one of my friends, and I'm sick of the White Mages in this town," she replied.

"I have a feeling that you met Gin when she was in a bad mood," he replied with a smirk.

"Yep."

"Well, let me go and get my father and sister. They're the ones who found Rock," he said as he walked into his house. "Papa, Sorano, someone's here to see you"

"Who is it?" asked Tomo as he and his daughter entered the room. "Oh, hello there. How can I help you?"

"I need to know something about Rock," Roll said.

"How do you know him?" asked Sorano. "And why do I recognize you?"

"He was one of my best friends in the other world," Roll said.

"And you are the Mage that he was protecting when we found all of you passed out. I remember now," she said. "What did ya want to know?"

"Gin said that people change when they come here, and she said that he might be evil," Roll sighed.

"He's not," said Kisho. "He's very polite and kind."

"Were you his girlfriend?" asked Tomo.

"Papa, that's none of your business," said Kisho. "And I think that you embarrassed her."

"Well, he was protecting her, from the Dragon and from the shockwaves of the other attacks, so I naturally thought that they were in love," said Tomo as Roll turned bright red. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"It's ok," she said. "I love Rock, but I don't know if the feeling is mutual."

"I'm pretty sure it is," said Sorano. "Any other questions?"

"Well, how far away is Black Mage City from Bastok?" she asked.

"BMC is near the Hidden Valley, which is southeast, and, well, Bastok is west. It'd be a long long journey there from Bastok," said Kisho. Roll  
sighed.

"I was hoping that it'd be in between Bastok and here," she said.

"Most Black Mages don't particularly like Fighters, and if there's one thing that Bastok has is Fighters. And there are plenty of Red Mages in  
between here and there, and we Black Mages hate those much more. They're a disgrace," spat Tomo.

"Oh, well, thanks for your help," Roll said as she started to leave.

"Hey, don't be a stranger," said Sorano.

"And thanks for the scrolls. I'm actually trying to become a Sage," said Kisho.

Roll waved goodbye and started back to the house.

---

"Hey guys, are we supposed to be going over a mountain?" asked Rock.

"Dude, I have the map right here," said Lykaios as he held up a sheet of parchment. "And Mount Yuhtunga is right in line with BMC."

"Give me that," said Min, snatching the paper from the boy. After reading it for a few minutes, she sighed. "Who gave this to you?"

"Some guy from Jeuno that we met in the last town, why?"

"When did you learn to read a map?"

"Um, last week."

"So, did you just decide to take the scenic route?"

"What?"

"This mountain is on the other side of the forest from BMC," she said, showing the map to the other boys. Both sweat-dropped when they saw the parchment.

"I thought that we wanted to see the Gemini Falls," Lykaios defended.

"We might as well," said Rock as they began their descent.

---

"So, you have everything you need?" asked Gin as the guys and Roll started their journey.

"Yes mam," said Searchman. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" The group started down the street and towards the Airship port.

"Remind me why we couldn't take one of these on the way over," said Forte.

"Because we wanted to train," said Blues. "Five tickets to Bastok, please."

"That'll be 1000 gil," said the salesperson. Blues paid the money, and the group headed on board, and they took off.

"So, Roll, what were you and Gin discussing before we left?" asked Searchman.

"She didn't think that it was a good idea for me to travel to Bastok. She didn't really trust you guys, I guess," she responded as they found  
a spot to sit.

"Anything else?" asked Blues.

"And she tried to convince me that Rock abandoned us, and would turn evil, and stuff like that," she replied.

"That'd be a sight worth seeing. So that's why you were yelling?" asked Forte.

"Yes."

"Gin upset Roll-chan, de gutsu. Good thing Guts no can get to Gin, de gutsu," said Gutsman.

"Calm down there," said Forte. "Did she say why she thought that Rock would turn evil?"

"I have a feeling that she doesn't like Black Mages that go to Black Mage City," Roll said.

"I wonder why," said Searchman.

"Well, we have a whole trip to think about it," said Blues. "And I have a whole trip to polish and sharpen my sword." Roll sweat-dropped at this  
remark. "What?"

"Blues, you just proved the Black Mages right," said Forte with a smirk. All that Fighters can think about is swords."

"Shove it Donkey Kong," Blues retorted.

"Donkey Kong?" asked Roll, looking from Blues to Forte.

"Dark Knight and Donkey Kong have the same first letter," said Searchman.

"You want to know what has the same first letter as Fighter?" asked Forte. "F-"

"Forte!" exclaimed Roll before he could get the word out.

"I suggest that we all rest before we kill each other," said Searchman.

"I was going to say 'freak', I swear," said Forte as he sat back.

**End Chapter **


	4. Chapter 4

I'd like to thank the Rose Kitusne.exe and LemmingRebel for reviewing, and the 40 something lurkers for reading.

**Begin Chapter**

"Netto," said Dr. Hikari. "I may have found something." Netto, who had fallen asleep in his father's office while his dad worked, sprang up and ran over to the computer. "See here," he said whilst pointing to the screen. "This dragon was sending a signal to a parallel dimension."

"Wh-what?" Netto asked, confused.

"This dragon is from a different dimension," he said again. "Where is everyone else?"

"Laika went with Enzan to talk to Chief, Meiru went home to change, and Dex went with Chisao to lunch," Netto said.

"Call them and tell them to get here as soon as they can. I might be able to send you there," Dr. Hikari said. Netto ran to his father's phone and started dialing Meiru's house. _"I just hope that you can find them without any trouble."_

---

"Are we there yet?" asked Lykaios the next morning.

"What did we tell you about talking?" asked Min.

"When, last night or this morning?" he asked.

"Last night," said Rock.

"Uh, shut up or we're going to throw you over the waterfall," he said.

"And," Rock said, annoyed.

"You did."

"So, do you remember what we told this morning?" asked Tabor.

"Keep your mouth shut in the woods or we're going to tie you up and leave you," said Lykaios.

"And we will," said Min. "Rock, are we going in the right direction?" Rock pulled out the map before he answered.

"Yep, if we continue down this path, we'll be there before nightfall," he said. "Why did you give me the map again?"

"Because you're the one with the sense of direction," Tabor replied.

"And because we need to have a leader before we get to BMC," said Min.

"We selected you," said Lykaios.

"Why?"

"Because," said Min, "you want to get home, so we know that you're not going to do anything rash or stupid that would put our lives in jeopardy."

"And you know this how?"

"You want to get home, don't you?" she asked. Rock sighed.

"I'm not very good at being a leader. I'm used to following," he said.

"You've got us this far, we've gained around thirty levels these past four days, we've not stopped training since we started," Tabor listed. "And that's saying something. Besides, only the best mages get selected to be Elemental Black Mages. You seem to know what you're doing."

"And your armor is the coolest," Min said.

"Ok, I guess I have no choice but to lead you prodigals home," he joked.

---

"Roll, welcome to our house," said Blues as they approached a medium sized house. It was stone, and was in the middle of a dirt lawn with few plants."We bought this from a guy on the airship."

"Ok, well, I'm going to go and claim my room," said Forte as he walked into the foyer, and up a flight of stairs.

"We'd probably want to go and do that too," said Searchman. "Gutsman, you can take the big bedroom on the first floor. I don't trust the floors to hold up."

"Fine, de gutsu," he said as he walked into a black room. Roll walked up the stairs, and found a good bedroom. It was sparsely furnished, with only a bed and a few paintings, but it served its purpose. Everything in the room was also pink.

"This'll do, I guess," said Roll as she laid down on her bed.

"Roll," said Blues as he knocked on the door, "did you find a room yet?"

"Yeah," she replied. "This room's perfect. Did everyone else find one?"

"Yep, I'm right across the hall, Searchman's room is right next to yours, and Forte's next to mine," he said. "Gutsman's is downstairs."

"I have a question," she said as she walked to the door and opened it. "Where will Rock sleep when he gets here?" Blues thought for a minute before answering.

"He'll probably want to bunk with you. See ya later," he told her before running down the stairs.

"Blues!" she yelled before slamming her door. "Hmph, whatever." _"I wish." _

"ROLL!" yelled Searchman from the stairwell. "LUNCH TIME!"

"COMING!" she yelled back as she started down the stairs and into the dining room. "I like this setup." The dining room had an elven theme.

"Yeah, who'd of thought that a fighter would make a decision not based on swords," said Forte. The food, steaks and potatoes, were already on the table.

"Shut up," said Blues. "Just shut up. I can't believe that you're helping us. I thought you hated us."

"No, I hate humans. Last time I checked, there are no humans here. Hume's, but not humans," he said as he started into a steak. "And if I want to get back, I'm going to have to work with you. Unfortunately."

"What, de gutsu?" asked Gutsman.

"He is forced to work with us," explained Searchman. "But, he doesn't want to."

"Oh, de gutsu," he said. "Why Roll sad, de gutsu?" Roll was just picking at her food, not really paying attention.

"What? Oh, I guess I'm just tired," she said.

"And she misses her boyfriend," Forte replied.

"Who, de gutsu? Gutsman hurt, de gutsu," he said. Roll just pushed her food away and laid her head on the table.

"Gutsman, just leave her alone," said Searchman. "Roll, do you want to go to take a nap."

"Thanks," she said as she walked up the stairs and back to her room, and lay down. "I just wish that Rock was here."

---

"There it is," said Tabor that night. They had finally made it to Black Mage City. The city was walled and gated with black stone, and there was a majestic black castle rising from the middle of the city. The city was lit up with magnificent multi-colored lights.

"Wow," whispered Rock as they walked up to the gates.

"Halt, who goes there?" asked the guard.

"Lucio, Min, Tabor, and Lykaios," said Rock, remembering his chosen nickname.

"Are you known by any other names?" asked the guard while checking a list of the new arrivals.

"I'm known by Rock, everyone else is known by those names," he said.

"Are you the leader of this group?"

"Yes."

"Did you take the position by force, or were you selected?"

"Selected."

"One last question, was your team selected to work in the High Court?"

"How would we be able to tell?" Rock asked, a little nervous.

"Two teams out of the twelve are given the elemental powers. If they learn to get along, and are all in one piece by the time they reach here, they go and work for the elites and the King."

"We were selected."

"Prove it." Rock looked at his team, and they got to work. Lykaios sent up a pillar of wood, and Tabor sent one of water. Min sent a surge of electricity through the water, and Rock disintegrated the wood. "Excellent. You four are to proceed to the King's Inner Court immediately." The guard then handed Rock a letter with a seal on it

"Thank you," said Rock as the guard stepped aside and they entered the city. It was all that they could do to not stare. Black mansions lined the street, as well as magic shops and an apothecary. The city was lit with magic torches that burned different colors. When they reached the Castle, they were stopped once again.

"May I see your pass," said the guard. Rock produced the letter. "You may enter. Kolya, please escort these mages to the king." Kolya bowed.

"Follow me," he said. He took them down a corridor, and through two sets of double doors. "Here is the king's chamber. He will be waiting for you." He bowed again. "I hope to see you around."

"Sure thing," said Tabor as they entered the chamber. They approached the throne and bowed.

"Ah," said the king, "You must be the new royal guards. You will need to wait until the other team arrives. They will be with us shortly."

"Yes, your highness," they said.

"You may wait in the hall until they arrive," the king said. They bowed one again and left the room.

"Ok, who wants to talk to the king?" asked Rock.

"You have to," said Min. "You're the leader."

"I _have_ to?" he asked again.

"Yes," they all said.

"And there's no way that you can back out now," said Lykaios. "You're the head honcho for us."

"Fine," said Rock.

---

"Ok dad, what did you want to show us?" asked Netto.

"Look at this," said Dr. Hikari. He pointed at a certain strain of numbers. "This is telling us where the navis were sent."

"And where exactly is that?" asked Enzan.

"It's in a different dimension," Hikari-hakase explained.

"How do we get there?" asked Laika.

"I'm working on creating a transporter that will send you there."

"How do we know that they made it safely?" asked Meiru.

"The signal has changed for each different navi," he said. "Rock's is far off from everyone else's."

"So, Rock has left everyone to go on his own?" asked Netto.

"No way!" exclaimed Meiru. "Rock would never leave Roll! Or anyone else for that matter!"

"Willingly," said Enzan.

"Are you saying that Rock was kidnapped?" asked Dex.

"Anyway, we need to get them back A-sap," said Dr. Hikari.

"Well, I will go and tell Chief Kifune what we found," Laika said as he walked out of the room.

---

"Lucio," said Kolya, "The king will see you, again. The other group will be arriving momentarily." Rock and his group reentered the halls.

"There are my new favorite mages," he said in a fatherly sort of tone. "The second team is on their way up here."

"Your majesty, Lucio, Min, Tabor, Lykaios," Kolya said, bowing to each person in turn. "May I introduce Alger, Caitlin, Shiro, and Maiju. They are the second elementals." Alger was a tall mage who wore the traditional outfit. Caitlin looked like Roll, and Rock would have mistaken her if he hadn't remembered that Roll wasn't here. She had blonde hair, and wore a purple shirt and black mini skirt. Shiro was a mean looking mage, wearing dark grey plate armor, and Maiju was a Dark mage. He wore all black, and had tattoos all over his arms and face.

"Welcome!" the king said. "I hope that you will all enjoy your time here. You will have a few days to explore the city and find a place to live while you're here. I will be sending your teams on different missions for me. Your teams are now my private messengers. You will also be in a separate league then the military and police."

"Sort of like the secret service," said Rock. "The personal guards of the leader."

"Yes, then you are my secret service, although you're existence isn't secret."

"Well," said Maiju. "Now that we have that all figured out, my team is going to go and find a place to crash. Later." Everyone from Rock's group stood there gaping.

"What horrible manners," Lykaios said. "I've never seen anyone be so disrespectful in my life!"

"Me neither," said Rock. "I apologize for what they just did."

"No need," said the king. "Now I know who I can trust. Thank you. You are dismissed." Everyone bowed and left.

-Outside-

"Can you believe them?" asked Min. "Such disrespect!"

"I know," said Tabor. "Well, we should go and find a small house."

"Fine," said Rock as they started down the street.

---

Roll lay awake that night, when someone knocked on her door. "Who is it?"

"Searchman." Roll sighed, put on a robe, and went to the door.

"Hey, is something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to let you know that there is some food leftover in the refrigerator," said Searchman. "And, I wanted to tell you that we're going to find Rock."

"Thanks," said Roll. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said as he went to his room. Roll went and laid back down.

"_Searchman, I hope that you are right, and I hope that Gutsman will leave Rock alone," _she thought with a smile. _"Actually, that might be funny to see. I'm sure that Rock could take him. I wonder what he's doing. I'm sure he's fine. Yeah, he's going to be ok. I'm sure that he's having fun with his team."_ With that thought, she fell asleep.

**End Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for reading!

**Begin Chapter**

Rock's group had found a small house for sale, after searching for an hour. "Who knew that finding a small house would be so hard?" asked Tabor.

"Well, _most_ black mages like to be flashy," said Min as they walked in. "How nice, it's already furnished. And it's all black. Even the kitchen is black."

"Duh," came an annoyed female voice from the doorway. They all turned around, and saw Caitlin standing there with Shiro. "Black Mages like black. All other colors are inferior. And black mages are flashy. You must be the exception to the rule."

"What are you doing here?" asked Lykaios politely.

"What's it to ya?" asked Shiro.

"Well, this is our house," said Rock. "So, if you have no business here, leave."

"I came to talk to you Rock," said Caitlin. "And Shiro came because, well, he's Shiro."

"What is it?" Rock asked, sitting in a chair.

"I was going to ask you if you would like to come with me and Alger tomorrow. We're going to the market," she said. Rock looked to the rest of his group. Tabor and Lykaios gave him a 'don't do it' look, and Min just glared at Caitlin.

"Would someone from my group get to go?" he asked, while noting that Shiro and Tabor looked like they were going to jump and attack each other.

"Who?" Caitlin asked.

"Min." Caitlin looked flabbergasted for a few seconds, and then regained her composure somewhat.

"Fine," she growled.

"Ok, we'll meet you at the square at ten," said Rock, showing them the door. They said goodbye and left. "Sorry Min, but we need to see how they act in public."

"Oh, I can tell you how that biatch acts," she said.

"Aggravating, I know," he said. "And we can ditch them whenever we want."

"If you can escape her grip," said Tabor. "And be glad that Shiro isn't going."

"I take it that you both have had bad experiences in the past," said Rock.

"Yep," they answered.

"I'll tell my story first," said Min. "I met Caitlin when I was five, and we were friends in the start. Then she started to get on my nerves. When we were in the Academy together, we both had a crush on this one guy, but I was shy. Caitlin went and started to hang all over him, and basically hung all over him. She's bad news."

"Too bad Roll isn't here," said Rock. "She'd beat the crapout of her if she tried anything like that on me. Ok, Tabor."

"Shiro and I met in the Academy. We were teamed up for hand to hand practice. Whenever the teacher would look away, he would sucker punch me, and other people that ticked him off."

"After that little bit of info, I am glad that Alger is going."

"Alger is the most level headed on that team. Maiju is just a retard," said Lykaios.

"You've met him before?" asked the three other people.

"No, but I can tell from the way that they acted. I could tell that about Shiro and Caitlin by looking at them," he replied. "Well I'm going to hit the sack."

"We all should," said Rock as they walked up the stairs and down a small hallway with four doors. They all selected their rooms, and went to sleep.

---

(The next morning)

"Dad, when's it going to be done?" asked Netto for the fifth time that morning.

"Netto, leave your father alone," said Enzan. "He's working as hard as he can."

"Thank you Enzan. Netto, as I said last time, it will be done sometime in the next few days. The fewer interruptions I have, the sooner it will get done," he said.

"Ok Papa," Netto sighed as he walked out of the room. "I'm just nervous."

"We all are," said Meiru. She and Dex had come to Sci labs to get Netto, who had been there since his father's announcement that they might be able to travel to the world where their navis were. "But you need to do something to keep your mind off of this."

"I don't want to go anywhere," he said, laying down on a couch in the hall way. "I want to be here in case Papa needs some help building that portal."

"But you're just sulking," Meiru protested.

"I am not," he said.

"Yes you are," said Dex. "And you are coming with us to the amusement park."

"But…"

"No buts about it," said Meiru.

"You are annoying your father," said Enzan. "And you haven't left. I'm sure you**r** mom is worried about you. Even I have gone home, and to work."

"Fine," Netto replied, standing up. The moment he had, Meiru grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the building, Dex in close pursuit.

---

When Roll awoke the next morning around six am, only one other person was up. Forte. He was in the living room reading a book. "Good morning Forte," Roll said as she walked past the room to the kitchen.

"Morning," he said, not even looking up from his book. Roll sighed and walked into the kitchen. She went over to the cabinets, and pulled out a box of cereal and a bowl. She prepared her breakfast, and went to the dining room. She had finished eating and cleaning up by the time that the rest of her group woke up.

"Good morning Roll!" said Blues as he came down the stairs.

"Good morning. What has you in such a good mood?" she asked.

"I have no idea," he said as he walked into the kitchen. He came out three minutes later with his breakfast, and went into the dining room. Around a minute after Blues came down, Searchman appeared, and so did Gutsman.

"Good morning," Searchman said.

"Hello de gutsu," Guts said.

"Hello boys. Everyone else is up, and Blues is eating right now," Roll said as she walked into the living room and sat down to watch TV.

"Roll-chan, there's a mess in the kitchen de gutsu," Gutsman said.

"Then why don't you clean it up?" she asked as Forte started to laugh. "Forte can help."

"Hey," he said. "Why don't you clean it up yourself?"

"Wait," said Searchman. "BLUES, COME INTO THE KITCHEN NOW!" A few moments later, Blues walked in. Roll couldn't suppress her curiosity, so she went into the kitchen, bad idea. Cereal was all over the floor, and some of it was crushed.

"Blues, did you make this mess?" Roll asked.

"The box wouldn't open," he said in his defense. Roll sighed.

"The broom is in the hall closet, along with the dustbin," she said, pointing to the door. "Gutsman, go and wipe your feet, then you can help Blues clean up." She then walked back into the living room. Forte had finished the book, and had turned to the TV for entertainment. Roll went and sat down in a chair to watch TV again.

"Are you finished yelling yet?" Forte asked.

"Yes. Blues made a huge mess in the kitchen. He seemed like someone who would be cleaner," Roll said.

"Well, he's not. If he can't open something, he slices it with his sword," Forte said. "He's a…"

"Typical fighter," Roll finished.

"Correct," he smiled his feral smile.

"I'm going to the market today to get some new clothes, and some new scrolls," she said.

"Fine, have fun," Forte said, turning his attention back to the TV.

"You're going out?" asked Searchman, walking into the room.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Here's some money," he said, handing her a small bag of coins.

"Thanks, I'll be back around lunch," she replied, walking out of the house and towards the market.

---

Around ten that morning, Rock and Min made their way to the city square. They were barely there, when Caitlin ran up to them. "Rocky!" she squealed as she gave him a huge hug. Rock looked to Min for help, Caitlin had his arms pinned to his side. Min cleared his throat. Caitlin let go of Rock to address her.

"Hello Helen," she sneered.

"Nice to see you too," Min said angrily, before doing a 180 and greeting Alger. "How are you this morning?"

"Fine," he replied. "Shall we get started on our shopping spree?"

"Sure," said Caitlin, releasing Rock and starting down the street. "First, we're going to buy some new spells."

"Ok," said Min as they walked over to the shop. This shop had many high level spells. Min and Rock bought two for each person on their team, while Caitlin and Alger only bought some for themselves. After ten minutes of shopping, Rock was to his wit's end with 'the evil she-devil'.

"Can we leave, please?" he whispered to Min in a pleading tone.

"What's the matter?" Caitlin asked, walking up to the pair.

"We need to get back to our house. Lykaios and Tabor will be wanting these," Min said, dragging Rock behind her. "I'll see you later!"

"Thanks," Rock said as soon as they were out of earshot.

"No problem. I thought that you would cave much sooner," she replied as they started walking. "Hey, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why haven't you been out looking for your friends?" Rock sighed.

"At first I was going to. After I got sent to the Academy, I thought that I would get injured, or arrested if I left. When I got selected, I saw it as an opportunity to get out and search, and as something that could possibly get me killed if I didn't agree. I went without a question because I was worried. I want to get out there as soon as I can. But I don't want anyone to get hurt. I mean, what if someone high up knows where my friends are, and if I screw up, they'll hurt them. I can't let my friends get hurt by something I do," he said.

"Rock, you obviously don't know how most Black Mages are. We will help you get to your friends. Now that we're working straight for the king, we can go and ask him for permission to go and search," she said.

"We have to make sure that he knows that we are trustworthy," Rock sighed.

"Hopefully only one mission will be all that it takes," Min said as they made it to their house.

"For what?" asked Tabor.

"For the king to know that we are trustworthy," said Rock as he handed the scrolls to their new owners. "We picked these up for you while we were out."

"Thanks," the boys said.

"Hey, we made lunch," said Lykaios as he walked to the dining room.

---

"Netto, aren't you glad that we got you out of that stuffy old building?" asked Meiru. They had just finished riding their fifth roller coaster.

"Yeah, I just wish that we could know what Papa is doing," he said. "But I am glad that I came."

"I thought that you were going to wuss out," said Dex.

"Well, I didn't," said Netto. "Also, you wussed out on that spinning ride."

"I just finished a large chili cheese hot dog!" he defended.

"So did I," Netto replied. "And I rode that twice."

"Guys, cut it out!" Meiru said. "We came here to have fun, not fight."

"But annoying Netto is fun, to me anyway," said Dex.

"Ha ha ha," Netto replied sarcastically. "You're hilarious."

"I try," Dex said. Meiru sighed in frustration.

"Let's just go on another ride," she said as Netto's PET beeped.

"It's an email from Papa. He needs me to go and get something for him. See ya later!" he said as he skated out of the park. He went to the hardware store and picked up the screws and bolts. He paid for the parts and went to the labs. "Papa, I got the parts."

"Thank you Netto," he said. "I need these to fix the transporter. It's going to need enough power to bring more than twice the send load back."

"Why?"

"Because I have a feeling that they will want to bring some of their new friends back," Dr. Hikari said.

"Oh." Netto laid back down on the couch in the room.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back. They will be fine until we get there," Dr. Hikari said. "We will be able to lock onto Blues', Roll's, Searchman's, and Gutsman's signals and send you straight to them."

"What about Rock?" he asked.

"I'm going to have you build a tracker, so you can find his signal when you get there."

"Ok, what do I need to do?" he asked, running to the worktable. His father smiled as they started to work.

---

"I'm back," said Roll as she walked into the house.

"I was expecting you to be out for a few more hours," said Forte as he walked into the foyer. "And I was expecting to have you more bags."

"Ha ha ha," said Roll. "Yep, I was able to fit three outfits and five scrolls in two medium sized bags. I'm going to my room to look over my purchases." She went up the stairs, and laid her things on the bed. She had bought a formal outfit, and two more regular outfits. She hung them up in her closet, and went back downstairs. She had left her scrolls in the TV room, and when she got back, Gutsman and Forte were standing around the bag. "What are you doing?"

"Gutsman was curious about what was in the bag," Forte said. "He wanted to see what was in there for himself."

"But you said…"

"I told him that that was your bag, but he still wanted to look," Forte said. Gutsman just looked at him angrily.

"Well, I'm going to study my new scrolls," she said, sitting down. She pulled out the first scroll, and started reading. Forte sat down, while Gutsman just stood there, looming over Roll. After a few minutes of this, Roll sighed and set her scroll down. "What is it?"

"Gutsman hungry de gutsu," he said. Roll looked over at Forte.

"Forte will cook you something," she said. "I'm busy."

"Why is Forte going to do something?" he asked.

"Because I am busy, and you're just watching TV," she replied angrily. "Go and cook something for him, now." Forte grumbled something, then stood up and walked out of the room, followed by Gutsman. Blues walked into the room shortly after they left.

"Hey Roll, what's up?" he asked. Roll looked up angrily.

"I'm trying to learn some new spells. Everyone is interrupting me," she said, glaring at him. "Turn the TV on, and die." Blues, who had picked up the remote, froze, and set it back down.

"What crawled up you butt?" he asked.

"I just kicked Forte and Gutsman out, if you don't shut up, I'll kick you out too," she replied. Blues picked up a book and started to read. Roll smiled and started to read again. Five minutes later, Gutsman came back into the room, followed by Searchman and Forte. Searchman was trying to pull him out of the room, while Forte was trying to not laugh. "What's going on?"

"Roll-chan doesn't like Gutsman, de gutsu," he said, half angry, half sad.

"Who told you that?" she asked, although she had a good idea who.

"Forte, who else?" asked Searchman.

"Well, it's not true," she said, going back to her scroll. "But if you don't leave me alone, and let me finish my work, I will get mad." Gutsman nodded and left the room. "Forte, leave him alone. Although, I would like to see you stuck in a tree being attacked by Gutsman."

"Well, aren't' you funny?" he asked sarcastically. Roll glared at him. "Aren't you a snappy one?"

"Forte, do you want to get hurt?" Blues asked while reading his book.

"What can she do?" Roll closed her eyes, said a few words, and pulled out a white hammer. "Oh."

"White magic versus a Dark Knight, What do you think will win?" she asked.

"Ok, I see your point," he said. Roll let go of the hammer, and the hammer disappeared.

"Is that one of your new spells?" Searchman asked.

"Yep. I figure that I'm going to need to learn a few offensive spells so I can defend myself."

"Fun," said Blues. "Well, I'm going to the gym. Anyone want to come?"

"Sure," said Forte.

"I'll go," said Roll.

"Why?" asked Forte.

"I have a feeling that I can work on my healing spells," she replied. "And I want to build up my physical strength. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, I just thought that you were more girly than that," he said with an evil grin. Roll just sighed.

"Ok, let's go," said Blues, walking out of the house, with Roll and Forte right behind.

**End Chapter**

Please Review


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry about not updating for a while. A lot has been happening. Thanks for reviewing and/or reading. Man this has been a hectic month.

**Begin Chapter**

"I'm so bored," Min whined. A day has passed, and they had completely explored the town. Min and Tabor had even got into a fight. In the middle of the street. It took Rock, Lykaios, and a few other mages to separate them. They were sent to their rooms when they got home. Min decided to just stay there.

"Min, are you ready to go?" Lykaios said, knocking on the door around seven p.m.

"Go? Where are we going?" she asked.

"We are supposed to go and report to the castle," he said. "Tabor is ready. Get on something nice." She grumbled a reply, and went to change into her traveling clothes. Five minutes later, she started down the stairs.

"I'm ready," she said, walking to the group, who were waiting by the door.

"Ok, let's go," Rock said, starting down the street. Everyone was wearing their armor, except, of course, for Min. They made it to the castle in ten minutes time, and were greeted by Kolya. "Hello."

"Hey," he said, smiling. "You are the first ones here. Congrats. Well, do you remember how to get to the inner chamber?"

"Go straight down this hallway, and it's the huge double doors?" Min asked.

"Correct," he said, moving to one side to let them enter.

"Thanks," Tabor and Lykaios said as they entered the hallway. "See you around."

"Can do," he said. Rock led them to the chamber, and the guards there opened the doors.

"Ah, team one, welcome," the king greeted them as they bowed. "Will you please come and stand to my right side. Lucio, you stand on the first step, if you would. The rest, in front of him."

"Yes sir," they said as they walked over. Less then a minute later, the doors opened again, this time revealing Maiju's team.

"Team two, thank you for coming," the kind said as they bowed. "Would you please come and stand to my left. Maiju, please stand on the first step, the rest, in front. If you need to see how to stand, look at team one." Maiju's team set themselves up just like Rock's. Rock was standing there, when Min whispered something to him.

"Your majesty, may I ask a question?" Rock asked.

"Other than that one?" Maiju asked.

"Yes, what is it?" the king replied, not paying any attention to his left side.

"I don't mean to be rude, but why are we here?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you last time," the king said. "The king from Windurst is coming to visit. He is bringing his best mages, and I have called my best ones too. We are negotiating the breaking of Windurst and BMC."

"So we are going to become our own country?" asked Caitlin. "Awesome!"

"Only if the negotiations work out," the king replied as trumpets sounded outside. "Now, when they come, at some point we will dismiss you and their mages. Rock, I want you to take their team that is on the king's right hand side, Maiju, the left. Take them to dinner, or something. Just make sure that they are happy. When the king enters, I will stand a greet him. You are to stand alert, and bow when I introduce your teams, is that clear."

"Yes sir," they all replied.

"Good, here they come," the king said, standing up as the doors opened. The king of Windurst, a Sage, was being carried in his throne, and was set down in the middle of the room. The Black Mage king stood and greeted him. "Harold, how wonderful to see you again."

"Likewise Charles," he said, shaking the mage's hand. "Are these your elementals?"

"Yes, the group on the right of my throne, looking towards you, is Lucio's team. Lucio is the one standing in the back, while Min, Tabor, the one in blue, and Lykaios, the one in black are in front. On the left is Maiju's team. Caitlin, Alger, the one who is in our traditional wear, and Shiro are on that team. Are these your elites?" King Charles asked.

"Yes. On my right you have Desiree's team. Behind her, in order are Alan, Darrel, and Palmyra. On my left is Sonia's team. Her group consists of Woodrow, Aaron, and Lyle. Shall we get started on the negotiations?"

"Yes, I have instructed my elementals to take your elites out to dinner while we work. Is that fine with you?"

"Fine, I wish I could join them. But we can get some good food here," King Harold laughed. "Desiree, Sonia, you and your teams may leave with Lucio and Maiju's."

"Lucio, Maiju, your teams are dismissed." The two groups started down the stairs, and walked to their respective guests. The elites and elementals walked out of the palace, and went down two different streets.

"So, do you know what type of food you want?" Rock asked to the groups.

"I want stir-fry," Min said.

"Why don't we see what our guests want," Tabor said.

"Um, stir-fry sounds good to me," Desiree said. Her team agreed.

"Ok, we found this awesome place yesterday," Lykaios said. "Remember, on Fifth Street."

"Oh yeah, best stir-fry in BMC," he said as they started towards the restaurant.

---

"We're back!" Forte yelled as he, Roll, and Blues entered the house. Going to the gym had become a daily routine, along with Roll going shopping with Gutsman and Searchman. When some girls that she had met in the market asked why she took two boys to go grocery shopping, she replied with a simple "Well, someone has to carry everything."

"How was the gym?" Searchman asked.

"Forte knocked some guy into the far wall. The one with the mirror," Roll said.

"Yep, Blues and I have a question. Does he get seven years bad luck, since he broke the mirror, or do I because I threw him into it?" Forte asked. "I think that he gets it."

"And I say that Forte does because it's like throwing a rock at a mirror," Blues said.

"And I told you that you BOTH that if you didn't drop the subject, that you both would get seven minutes of extreme pain," Roll snapped at them.

"Sorry," they both said.

"What else happened?" asked Searchman. "Because I know that those two wouldn't act like this for any reason. Why the sudden mood swing?" Roll crossed her arms and huffed.

"Well, Roll, being the wonderful healer that she is, tried to heal him. I think his name was JT. So Roll starts to fix his wounds, and when he regains consciousness, he tries to kiss Roll," Blues said.

"I see this," Forte interrupted, "And jump out of the ring, and pummel this guy to a bloody pulp."

"Forte saved Roll, de gutsu?" asked Gutsman.

"I just did it because I know the ass kicking I would have gotten if I hadn't stepped in. Both from Rock and Roll," he said, angrily.

"I take it Roll didn't help him a second time," Searchman said.

"Would you have!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down there," he replied quickly. "I wouldn't have, I was just making sure." Roll sighed. "And where were you?" he asked Blues.

"I was in the weight room," Blues replied. "The first time that I heard anything about this was when Roll comes storming out of the wrestling area with a very pissed off Forte right behind. I put my stuff up and ran after them."

"I'm going to take a shower," Roll said starting up the stairs.

"Hurry it up, I need one too!" Forte yelled.

"Forte, why did you help Roll? Other than the fact that you would be beaten almost as much as JT," Blues asked.

"I just feel like we all need to stick together if we want to get home," he said. "It's not like I like her more than a friend or anything. I don't want to fill Rock's position."

"Rock, de gutsu? Forte means Gutsman de gutsu," Gutsman said. Everyone just sighed. "What, de gutsu?"

"Gutsman, I hate to break it to you, but Roll likes Rockman," Searchman said.

"Roll no like Guts, de gutsu?" he asked, sad.

"Roll likes you as a friend," Blues said. "Just like she likes the rest of us. Well, maybe not Forte."

"Whatever. Is there any food in this house?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen. Sitting on the counter were three steak plates. "Thanks."

"No problem," Searchman said. "We really should be looking for a way to get back home. I mean, we should be avidly searching."

"Of course you would say that," Forte said in between mouthfuls. "Your name is SEARCHman." Searchman just sighed.

"Seriously, we need to find a way to Rock at least," he said.

"Why? Let him find us," Forte replied. "Beside, there're more of us than him. He can just come here."

"How would he know where to go?"

"How do we know where to go?" Searchman just glared and left the kitchen, which left Forte to gloat at another won argument. _"Forte three the rest of the guys zero, Roll, um, I'd say two ties."_ His gloating was interrupted by Roll.

"FORTE, SHOWER'S OPEN!" she called down the stairs.

"BE RIGHT UP," he yelled back. He put his steak down, and started up the stairs.

---

"Papa, I can't understand what these blueprints mean," Netto complained. He was currently working on the interior of the tracker where the computer chips would be placed.

"Netto, I'm working on this now. Could you go and ask Laika or Enzan?" Dr. Hikari replied.

"Sure," Netto said, picking up the paper and walking out of the room. He walked down the hall and into another room. "Mejin-san, I can't understand this."

"Netto, no need for formalities. What don't you understand?" the bespectacled scientist asked.

"I can't figure out which piece goes where. Papa gave me this box of pieces that all look the same," he complained.

"Netto, I don't really have time to help you search. Meiru and Dekao have been looking for something to do, though," Mejin replied. "I believe they are in the food court."

"Thanks Mejin-san," Netto said as he ran out of the door.

"Netto, there's no need, oh forget it," Mejin said as he continued his work. Netto ran down the stairs and into the food court where his two best friends were currently sitting.

"Netto, is something wrong? Did your dad find anything?" Meiru asked as Netto caught his breath.

"I need some help with this," he said, spreading the blueprints on the table. "I have all of the parts here, I just can't figure out which is which."

"And you need our help to look," Dekao said as Netto nodded. They started to dig through the box, and ten minutes later, Enzan and Laika appeared.

"Dr. Hikari told us what you were doing, and told us to help," Enzan said, sitting down at the table.

"He also told us that Netto is supposed to be programming and building this device, so we'll take over the building, you get your butt up those stairs and get to work," Laika replied. Netto said thanks and ran back upstairs. "Where does he get the energy to do that?"

"I don't know," Enzan said as he started to identify pieces.

---

"Thanks for dinner," Desiree said as her group and Rock's left the stir-fry restaurant.

"It was our pleasure," Rock said.

"So, when did y'all get here?" asked Palmyra.

"We got here a few days ago," Min replied.

"Fun," Darrel said.

"Hey if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call us," Desiree said as they neared the castle. "Most, if not all of the elites from all of the countries have a connection system. It's more for communications, but it can be used for other things."

"Thanks," Tabor said.

"Hey, could you do something for us when you get back?" Rock asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Desiree questioned.

"When you get back to Windurst, could you find out if some people named Roll, Blues, Searchman, Gutsman, and/or Forte were there in the past few days?" he asked.

"Sure, they friends of yours?"

"Yeah. We got separated when we arrived here."

"I'm sorry about that, but I'll check when we get back. I'll also put out a search bulletin to the rest of the elites. Any news will be relayed to you."

"Thanks," Rock smiled as they climbed the stairs and walked the hall to the inner chamber.

"Ah, Lucio and team, Desiree and team. I trust dinner was good," King Charles said.

"It was excellent, your majesty," they replied.

"Wonderful, wonderful. We're just going to wait for our secondary teams to come, and then we will retire for the night," the king said. A few seconds later, Maiju and Sonia entered. "How were your dinners, Maiju and team, Sonia and team?"

"It was exquisite, your majesty," they replied.

"Excellent. Well, I suggest we retire to our chambers for the night. Lucio, Maiju, your teams are dismissed," Charles replied as the Black Mages bowed and turned to their new friends to say goodnight. A few minutes later, they were walking home.

"So, what hole-in-the-wall place did you take them?" asked Maiju.

"We actually took them to the best stir-fry spot in town," Min snapped back. "Good food that didn't burn a hole in our budget."

"Here's our street," Rock said as they started down it. "Night."

"Night hun!" Caitlin replied.

"I hate your guts!" he called back, smiling, as he broke into a run, team in tow.

"That was so mean," Lykaios laughed as they entered the house.

"She deserved it," Min said. "The look on her face was priceless, though."

"Amen to that. She looked like she swallowed a chocobo," Tabor laughed.

"Well, we had better get some rest. I have a feeling all hell will break lose tomorrow when we see them again," Rock said. They climbed the stairs and went to their rooms. As Rock fell asleep, one name crossed his mind. _"Roll-chan."_

---

Across the map, Roll was sitting in her window, looking at the stars. _"Why can't the Net have nighttime?"_ she wondered. _"Stars are so beautiful."_ She started to think back to the first time she saw them. Meiru, Netto, Yaito, Tohru, and Dekao were waiting for a fireworks show to start, and they had logged their navis into a computer with a giant screen so that they could watch as well. Roll had sat next to Rock, and was amazed long before the show began. When Rock asked her 'what's so amazing?', she simply replied "the stars". _"And he smiled and would have said something if the fireworks hadn't started at that very second."_ Roll smiled at that memory.

"_What, do I really think that he would have said something romantic? He likes me as a friend, nothing more. But whenever I see stars, I think of him."_ She smiled, and would have continued her stargazing if a loud crash hadn't come from downstairs.

"Roll, are you there?" Blues whispered as he knocked on the door.

"Yes," she replied.

"Stay there until we figure out what that was."

"Ok." She sat in silence for a few minutes before Forte called.

"It's alright. All sissies can come out now. There's no need to hide, the big bad boys solved the problem." Roll rolled her eyes and went downstairs. There, in the kitchen, was Gutsman, out cold.

"What happened here?" she asked. The three other guys just looked at each other.

"Well, we thought we heard a robber, but it turns out it was only Gutsman making a lot of noise," Searchman began.

"So we come down, and hit the 'robber' on the back of the neck," Forte said.

"What's all this 'we' business? That was all you," Blues said. "Could you fix him?"

"Sure," Roll said, using her white magic. A few seconds later, he woke up.

"What happened, de gutsu?" he asked.

"You knocked yourself out with those pans," Forte replied. "You need to be more careful."

"Actually, Forte here knocked you out," Blues said.

"Shut up Fighter, and quit lying to him," Forte hissed.

"Ooh, look at me, I'm such a fierce Dark Knight. I can boss people around because of who I am," he replied.

"Shut up Fu-" Forte said before he was knocked off balance by Roll's hammer.

"We do not swear in this household. Do you understand?" she asked in a low and dangerous voice.

"Yes ma'am," the guys murmured.

"I'm sorry, I said 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" she yelled.

"Yes ma'am," they said quickly.

"Now, Forte, you are going to help Gutsman clean up. I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up," she said as she marched up the stairs.

"What's up with her?" asked Blues.

"PMS probably," Forte said as he started to clean up the kitchen.

**End Chapter**

Rose, I hope i don't come off as mean, i'm just impatient. i also don't know if i got your email correctly. if you still want to, send in the beta'd one and i'll update this one.

Jhvh777


	7. Chapter 7

1Writing on vacation is always fun. Especially when you have received a bright red sunburn in the same day. Fun fun fun fun fun. Ok ok, I'll get started on the chapter.

Thecrazyfanficcer- yep, they're my oc's. hmm, a moogle, maybe for Roll. Oh, and thanks for naming off all of my oc's. I'm not using my computer, heck, I don't even have my comp. It's in the shop, so I'm using my dad's. that list has helped me know which one's I've used already. Thanks!

**Begin Chapter**

"Someone's at the door," Min yelled, not even looking up from her book. She was crashed on the couch, reading, while the boys were 'remodeling' the dining room.

"I'll get it," Rock replied as he walked out of the room. Min looked up from her book just in time to see a painted Rock walk by.

"You're supposed to paint the room, not yourself," she teased.

"This was Tabor and Lykaios' fault," he defended. "But I got them back. Someone left some cherry bombs in the room, so I made a nice little wick, stuck it in the bucket of paint, and lit it. If you hear an explosion, don't freak out." He walked to the door and answered it. A messenger from the castle was there.

"Um, are you Lucio?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, sorry about this, we're trying to repaint, and well, um, the guys got a little happy with the brushes," he said, laughing, "So, what did you need?"

"I was sent to tell you that you are needed at the castle, but you may want to clean up a little first," he gulped.

"Ok, I'll be about forty minutes, an hour if this paint doesn't want to get off," he said. "Thanks."

"Y-yes sir," the messenger saluted.

"One more thing," he said. "Calm down. People won't bite."

"Your team maybe, but I'm not going to tell the other team squat," he said. "They can send someone else. The girl will bite your head off faster than anything."

"Amen to that," Rock agreed. "I'm going to go and clean up now." An explosion was heard throughout the house, followed by a scream of surprise.

"What was that?" the poor messenger asked.

"Well deserved payback," Rock said plainly. "I'll see you in around an hour."

"O-ok," he said as he ran down the road.

"ROCK, YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" the boys yelled as they opened the door, covered in paint.

"After I get back from the castle," he said.

"How many cherry bombs did you use?" Min asked.

"Ten," he replied as he started up the stairs. "Look at it this way, we're done painting."

---

"Is that it?" Searchman asked. He, Gutsman, and Roll were shopping for the day's groceries.

"Yes it is," Roll replied as she packed her final item into the basket that Gutsman was carrying. They started down the street, chatting about the third person that was foolish enough to try and take on Forte in a fight. They walked down the street, and passed the castle. While they passed, two pairs of eyes started to follow them.

"That them?" a male voice asked.

"I think so, they fit the profile," a second replied.

"Let's go see."

The three continued towards their home, becoming increasingly aware of their followers. "We've got tails," Searchman said. He started to walk a little faster, the two other following suit.

"Still following, de gutsu?" Gutsman asked. Searchman looked over his shoulder, and turned the corner.

"Yes," he replied. "If push comes to shove, Roll, you run to the house, and send either Blues or Forte to come and help us. Tell the other guy to stay with you."

"Got it, but we only have one more block," she said. "I can see the house." They broke into a trot.

"Hey," one of the followers said, running towards them.

"Run," Searchman whispered to Roll and Gutsman. Roll started onto a full fleged run, while it took the boys a little bit longer to get up to speed. Although they didn't get a head start, the three made it to the house before their followers, but before they could get the door shut, the two men made their way into the home.

---

"Finished," Netto sighed as he closed a window on the computer and ejected the disk.

"Good, because we're done too," Enzan said as he, Laika, Meiru, and Deako entered the office where Netto was. Enzan handed Netto the box, and he installed the chips. "We actually finished yesterday when you gave it to us, but we decided to wait until you were finished to bring this."

"Ok," Netto yawned.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Meiru asked.

"No, I wanted to get this finished," he yawned again.

"Get home and get some sleep," Laika said sternly. Netto nodded and started towards the door.

"I'll go with you," Meiru said.

"Me too," Dekao added. The three walked out the door and out of the building.

"Do you want to be the one who goes to ask Dr. Hikari when the transporter is going to be done?" Enzan asked.

"Let's both go," Laika hastily replied. "Last time, he was kind of angry with me."

"He's been angry with everyone," Enzan said. "Anyone who breaks his concentration. Does he have anyone else helping him build that?"

"I believe that he pulled Mejin into it, but I think that's it." They turned the corner, and entered the construction zone. "Hello Dr. Hikari."

"Hello Enzan," he replied, not even looking up from his work. "I'm almost done. It should be done by lunch. You can leave then."

"We may want to wait until tomorrow," Laika said.

"Why?" Mejin asked, popping up from the backside of the contraption.

"Netto hasn't gotten any sleep in the past twenty-four hours."

"What?" Dr. Hikari asked.

"He stayed up all night last night programming that tracker," Enzan replied.

"Ok, well, I'll make sure to not tell him anything until tomorrow morning. If I know him, he will want to leave as soon as he can." Enzan and Laika agreed and left the office.

---

"Lucio, m'boy. How are you doing?" asked the king as Rock walked into the room and bowed.

"I'm fine, your majesty."

"I heard that you and your team made a little mess in your house today."

Rock gave a nervous chuckle before replying. "That's true. Tabor, Lykaios and I got into a paint fight. Also, I found out that you cannot efficiently paint a house with cherry bombs." The king started to laugh.

"It's good to know that you are getting settled well. But I have an assignment that I need your team to carry out." The king sobered immediately.

"What is it, your majesty?"

"We have discovered spies from Bastok in our new territory. The kingdom of Windurst has allotted us fifty miles all around BMC for our starting territory. We are allowed to conquer and expand. We found the spys the day after the break, and they were headed towards our fine castle."

"What is it that you would like my team to do?"

"I would like for your team to escort the spies back to Bastok, and to warn their king, King Fitzgerald, that, although it may be permitted in Windurst, BMC will not allow spies. Tell him that we will return them this time, but the next, they will be released to our sharp shooters." Rock nodded.

"Is there any specific way that you would like for us to travel?"

"Actually, I have called the rest of your team here. I have found some areas where tamable dragons are to reside. I would like for each of you to take one." The two waited in silence for three minutes until the doors burst open, and Min, Tabor, and Lykaios, the latter two still covered in paint, rushed in and bowed.

"We came as fast as we could," Min explained as she tried to catch her breath.

"Sorry about our appearances," the two boys apologized.

"It's no problem," the king said. "Now, do you see the large pits of elements whose powers you possess?" Behind him on either side were pits. One of fire, one of electricity, one filled with water, and the final one filled with plants.

"Yes, your majesty," they replied.

"I want each of you to go into the pit where your element resides. In it, there should be a dragon for each of you." Rock shrugged his shoulders and entered the fire pit.

"Wow." There, in the middle of the fire, was a red dragon. Rock walked up to it slowly, and put his hand out to touch it. Suddenly, a stream of fire burst out and connected Rock's hand and the dragon's neck. It solidified, and turned into a ruby leash. "What?" he asked as the fires fell down.

"Congratulations, you have a pet dragon now," the king joked as the three other pits emptied. Min had a yellow dragon on a golden leash, Tabor had a blue one on a sapphire leash, and Lyakios had a green one on an emerald leash. "We will give you and your dragons a stable here in the castle. Decide on a name for them before your mission tomorrow."

"Yes, your majesty," they replied as they lead their dragons to the stables.

"We should probably spend some time with our dragons, just to make sure that they trust us," Rock said.

"_I trust you, Rockman," _said a voice in Rock's head.

"Who said that?" he asked.

"So you heard it too?" Min asked.

"_It was I, your dragon,"_ the voice said again. _"Dragons and their trainers have telepathic communications. Try speaking to me in your mind."_

"_Like this?"_ Rock asked telepathically.

"_Very good. Judging by your friend's faces, they have achieved communication with their dragons. So, Rock, as I see you like to be called, have you decided on a name for me yet?"_ the dragon asked anxiously. Rock thought for a minute before answering.

"_Orinda, it means fire serpent,"_ he replied as they entered the stables. "Here we are guys." The stables were huge, each the size of a small house. They lead their dragons into specific stables, and bade their new found friends goodbye. "So, have you named yours yet?"

"Yep, mines a girl named Damini," Min said as they started out of the stables.

"Boy named Indra," Tabor said.

"Girl named Eranthe," Lykaios added.

"Mine's a boy named Orinda," Rock finished. They left the castle, and started back to their home. "Oh great, Shiro and Caitlin."

"Rockie! Oh I know that you didn't mean what you said the other day," Caitlin said as she started towards Rock. He took a step back, and the rest of his group took a few steps forward, so that Rock was in the back of the group.

"What do you want?" Min asked.

"For Rock to apologize," she replied.

"What does he have to apologize for? For telling the truth?" Tabor asked as Shiro cracked his knuckles. "Ooh, intimidating."

"That's the point," Shiro said, as he advanced on the group.

"Can you not count? It's two on four," Min teased.

"Wanna bet?" asked Maiju, who had appeared from behind them, Alger in tow. Rock and friends were surrounded. "Now, what did the king need?"

"He needed someone who he can trust to do something for him," Rock said as Team two got into fighting stances.

"_Rock, what's wrong?"_ Orinda asked.

"_Orinda? How can you, never mind. My team is surrounded by the other group of elites. They want to fight," _he thought. _"We may need backup."_

"_I'll get the rest of the dragons, and we'll come to your aid,"_ Orinda said.

"_Thanks,"_ Rock thought. "You may want to stand back, Maiju."

"And why is that?" he asked, advancing. Suddenly, a thunderous roar broke through the semi silence of the afternoon. "And what is that!" The four dragons landed in front of their new owners.

"Damini!" Min exclaimed as she hugged her dragon.

"What is a Damini?" Caitlin asked.

"It's the name of her dragon," Tabor said.

"I take it that this is the reason that you four were called to the castle," Alger said.

"Correct, now beat it," Lykaios spat.

"Have fun with your high maintenance pets," Maiju said as he walked away. "Come on team."

"_Thanks Orinda," _Rock thought.

"_That's what a dragon is supposed to do."_ The dragon seemed to smile. _"We help our owners when they are in trouble. I see that you have had a bad experience with a dragon."_

"_Yeah,"_ he replied. _"Thanks again. Do we need to take you back to the stables?"_

"_No, we can go back by ourselves,"_ Orinda assured him. _"I will see you in the morning."_

"_You too,"_ Rock said as the dragons flew back to their stables. "Come on, we've got to pack."

---

"So, you are the elites of Bastok," Blues said.

"Why didn't you just tell us instead of chasing us?" Roll asked. She had made it back to the house, and Forte ran out to attack while Blues stayed to protect her.

"Well, you didn't really give us a chance to. We said 'hey' and you took off running," Dan, one of the elites said. His friend John agreed.

"Sorry about that, but all we saw were two people following us for no apparent reason," Searchman defended. "What would you have done?"

"Probably the same thing," John said. "We only followed you to ask you if you know the elite Black Mage Lucio."

"Lucio?" they asked.

"Desiree said that he was also known as Rock," Dan replied. Roll's face lit up. "I take it she knows him."

"Yeah, we know him," Forte said. "Did you find him?"

"He's in BMC."

"He's the elite?" Roll asked.

"One of the elites," John corrected. "There are eight in total, and he's in a group of four." All of the sudden, a falcon came in through the window. Dan took the letter from its leg, and read it quickly.

"I'm sorry, but we need to leave," he said. "I hope to see you again."

"You too," Searchman said, escorting their guests to the door and bade them 'goodnight'. "That was interesting."

"At least we know where Rock is," Roll said excitedly.

"Oh goody," Forte sneered. "So, how long will he be staying there? One week, two? Elites are sent on high missions."

"He might come here, de gutsu," Gutsman said.

"Why would Bastok be visited by an elite Black Mage?" Blues asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Rock sooner rather than later," Roll said, smiling.

---

"Thank you for bringing Netto home," Mrs. Hikari said to Meiru and Deako. "Would you like some cookies?"

"No thank you," Meiru replied. "We need to get home. I do, at least."

"Me too," Deako agreed.

"Well, if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask," Mrs. Hikari replied.

"Thanks," the two said as they left the house. Mrs. Hikari walked back up the stairs and into her son's room. Netto was asleep and holding his PET tightly. Mrs. Hikari walked over, removed his headband, and tucked him in.

"Mama?" he asked, sleepily.

"Go to sleep honey," she replied. He shifted under the covers.

"Rock," he muttered as he fell back asleep. Mrs. Hikari smiled and kissed her son on the head as she walked back out of the room and down the stairs.

"I'm home," Dr. Hikari said as his wife made it to the bottom of the stairs. "And I have great news."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I have finished the transporter, and all preliminary tests have been completed. Netto and his friends will be able to go and find their navis by tomorrow."

"That's wonderful. Netto really misses Rock."

"I know, that's why I finished it as fast as I could. Now, what's for dinner?"

**End Chapter**


	8. Chapter 8

1Here's the next chappie.

**BenOni-Saito**- I'm glad that you like my writing. Yours is awesome too.

**LemmingRebel**- What can I say?

And now it's time to:

**Begin le Chappie**

"Here are the espionage agents," Koyla said as he placed them in cages and rolled the cages towards Team one. Everyone was waiting for the 'go' for their mission.

"Thanks," Rock replied as he climbed on Orinda as the rest of his team mounted their dragons. "Min, could you get Damini to help with this?"

"Sure," she smiled as her dragon grabbed one end of the rope, while Orinda grabbed the other. "Hang on one sec. My luggage is coming loose." She turned around and pulled the rope a little tighter. _"Is that too tight?"_

"_No, it's fine. I don't want you to lose what little clothes you brought,"_ Damini replied. Min had only packed half a bag.

"What's with your bag Min? Shouldn't it be heavier?" asked Tabor.

"I'm going shopping," she said plainly. "I need room to fit everything."

"Ok , can we go now?" asked one of the spies. Rock rolled his eyes and they took off.

---

"Ready to go?" asked Netto as he and his friends stood in front of the transporter. It took them five hours to finish tests and get everything ready to go. The only two people who brought something were Netto, who had the tracer, and Laika, who had the beacon which would tell Dr. Hikari when they were ready to return, and how many people would be returning.

"Yeah," Meiru replied shakily. "I'm really nervous about this, though."

"We all are," Enzan interjected, "but we have to do this if we want our navis back."

"Ok, it's time to go," Dr. Hikari said as he gave his son a goodbye hug. "Stay safe."

"We will," Netto smiled. The transporter hummed to life, and a white light filled the room, and the five people were gone.

---

"Wake up you lazy-butts!" Roll yelled up the stairs. It was past ten, and she was the only one up.

"Who are you calling a quote-unquote 'lazy butt'?" Forte yelled back. "I've been up, so don't call me lazy!"

"Lazy," Blues said as he ran down the stairs, followed closely by Forte, and grabbed Roll to use as a human, or rather hume, shield. Forte and Blues fought for a few minutes before Gutsman emerged from his room.

"Leave Roll-chan alone!" he roared. He grabbed both Blues and Forte by the scruff of their necks and threw them across the room.

"Oh that does it now," Forte snarled as he picked himself up and started to charge Gutsman. Roll rolled out of the way, and ducked into the kitchen, followed closely by Searchman.

"Wow, this is a great way to start out the day," he said as Blues entered the room.

"Five bucks that Gutsman gets his butt handed back to him," he smiled. Roll sighed.

"So, did you do that on purpose?" she asked.

"Well, he messed with my sword," he responded as Gutsman fell through the door. Forte was standing right outside, smirking.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold, eh?" he asked as he took a few steps towards Blues. "No one can get efficient revenge on me."

"Cut it out both of you," Roll said as she exited the room. "I'm going shopping. Forte is coming with me. Searchman, do you want to go with me too?"

"I'd better. Who knows what Forte might do," he replied. Forte snarled and stormed out of the house, followed by the other two.

---

"Presenting the honorable Black Mages from Black Mage City," announced a fighter as they appeared before the king. The elites bowed as they pulled the spies in front.

"We found these spies in our territory," Rock said. "We have brought them back with a message from our king. The first time we find them, we return them. The second, they're ours." The king glared.

"I did not know that your 'country' had a military already," the king sneered.

"We have a military, and we are good friends with Windrust. If you attack us, we will overwhelm you with power," Rock replied calmly. "So, are we going to negotiate the terms of their return?"

"I will negotiate with you and one other. How about that one behind you," he said.

"Ok, Tabor, you're staying. What about the rest of my team?"

"They can leave." Rock turned around, rolled his eyes, and they left.

"I feel real sorry for those guys," Min said.

"Yeah, but they're taking one for the team, I guess," Lykaios replied. The two of them made it to the shopping district. "So, what do you want to buy?"

"I don't know, some spices, herbs, hair accessories, and a sword," she smiled.

"A sword?"

"Hey, when in Rome. Wait, what is Rome? I know that Rock said that it was a city from wherever the heck he's from, but what's with the saying?"

"Who knows? Hey, there's a market."

"Ok, we'll start there," she replied as they made it down the isles of food. "I wonder what's good here."

"Oh, if you're looking for some fruits, the thundermelons, kazahm peppers, yagudo cherries, and the derfland pears are good right now," said a blond white mage who was also shopping.

"Thanks," Min replied as she got the fruits. "I haven't seen thundermelons this ripe in a long time. My name is Min, by the way, and this is Lykaios. We're black mages from BMC."

"I'm Roll, and these are Searchman and Forte," Roll smiled. "Do you know a Rockman?"

"I know a Rock, if that's what you mean," she replied as she watched Roll's face light up. "Oh my gosh, you're the people that he's been looking for! Oh my gosh. -sigh- Wow. I just had a random hyper moment." Lykaios snorted. "What's your problem?"

"You are the most random lightning mage that I know," he laughed.

"And you want a beating," she threatened. Lykaios stopped laughing, and took a few steps back as Forte started to laugh. Min took one look at him, and broke down laughing. "Man that felt good."

"Exerting your control?" asked Roll.

"Yeah. I can get scary when I'm mean," Min smiled. "Tabor and Lykaios always say 'Min is mean'. So, what does the hottie think is so funny?" Forte froze.

"Hottie?" he asked as Roll and Searchman started to snicker.

"Purple hair ishot, ok. And you have a nice tan too," she said in an evil tone and sly smile. Forte just shrugged and smiled.

"I think that you are the first person who has ever hit on me," he replied. "Does she flirt with every guy she sees?"

"No. In fact, I didn't even know that she was able to flirt," Lykaios said while backing up. Min was giving him a look that meant nothing good for him. "Oh crap, I'm going to die now, right."

"Oh yeah. I'll give you a minute head start," she said as she turned around. "Ok, Rock will kill me if I don't get an address from you."

"Where is he?" Searchman asked.

"The castle negotiating the return of some spies that we caught and that I would like to rip apart limb from limb for being in our territory without permission or any good excuse. Man that was a mouthful," she said while taking a deep breath.

"I like the tearing apart limb from limb thing," Forte smiled. "We live at 49580 Nadrs Ln."

"Ok, well, I need to go and kill Lykaios. See ya!" she said as she took off after her teammate. "Get back here coward!" She ran out of the market and towards the castle while catching sight of her prey. Lykaios was frozen in front of the steps with the elite fighters surrounding him.

"So, little mage, are you going to surrender or what?" one asked as he started towards Lykaios.

"Back off freak," he growled as he pulled his own sword out of the ground. It was made of wood.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," another sneered as Min shot a bolt of lighting at him.

"You should be," she shot. "Metal conducts electricity, and all of you are wearing armor of some sort." Lykaios took this little lecture to pull a wooden crate over him. "And wood doesn't conduct electricity, so I don't have to worry that much about aiming." She got into battle mode, and started fighting all eight of them at once. Lykaios made it past the fight to find the other mages.

"_Crap, we left Rock and Tabor and they've probably been attacked," _he thought as he ran through the halls. After a few wrong turns and dead ends, he found the correct room. He burst through the door to find Tabor unconscious, and Rock fighting the king with his fire sword.

"And here I thought that I had you all figured out," the king commented to Rock, not realizing that there was another Mage in the room. "I never expected a mage to know how to wield a sword."

"Well, I'm not your ordinary mage," Rock spat. "In fact, I'm almost as good with a sword as I am with a ranged weapon." The king gave a battle cry and lunged at Rock.

"_Now or never," _Lykaios thought as he sent vines through the floor. The vines wrapped themselves around the legs of the king. "Rock, those are extremely flammable." Rock spun around, saw his friend, smiled, and then threw the sword to the feet of the king.

"Thanks. Could you see how Tabor is?" he asked as he lit the vines. Lykaios ran over to Tabor, and got him to his feet.

"He'll be out for a while, but we need to get out of here," Lykaios replied as Rock helped drag him out of the chamber.

"_Orinda, we're going to the roof and we need all dragons there. Tell them to tell Min to get to the roof. We're getting out of here before we get killed," _Rock thought frantically as he started towards the stairs. "We're getting to the roof."

"Aye aye el capitan," Lykaios replied as Min ran up to them.

"Holy shnikes, I nearly got killed down there, and what happened to Tabor?" she asked while going up the stairs.

"One of the 'royal guards' laid a cheap shot on him. He's out cold," Rock said as he tried to balance his weight. Min seemed to get an idea, because the next second she had sent a small electrical shock through Tabor. Before anyone could ask why she did that, Tabor woke up.

"Geez Min, what was that for?" he asked.

"You wouldn't get up. Now can we run up the stairs, we have like five flights to go," she said, annoyed.

"Yeah, lets just hope that we can get up there without incident," Rock said as they continued up.

---

"Meiru-chan?" asked Roll. One second she was teasing Forte about that 'Min' girl, and the next all of the Net Op's are there. "Is it really you?"

"Roll-chan," Meiru said as she embraced her navi.

"Searchman?" asked Laika. Searchman smiled and nodded. "Where're everyone else?"

"Well I'm right here," Forte growled. "But everyone else, minus the rock-head, are at the house. Rock is somewhere where we don't know."

"That girl that thought that you were hot said that he was at the castle. We should get Blues and Gutsman and hurry to get Rock. And DON'T call him rock-head," Roll said in a dangerous voice. All of the Op's started to laugh at that remark.

"I'll go and get the other two idiots while you go and get the third," Forte sneered as he took off running. Roll just shook her head as they started towards the castle.

"What do you think that Rock is doing at the castle?" asked Netto.

"He's here on behalf of the Black Mages. It appears that he got himself roped into their elite rank," Searchman said.

"Black Mage, what's a black mage?" asked Dekao. Roll sighed.

"Ok, there are at least six 'races' I guess you'd call them here in this dimension. White mage, which is what I am, heal people; Black mage, like Rock, cast elemental spells; Fighters, like the majority of the citizens of Bastok and Blues, are swordsmen; Dark knights, like Forte, are semi-evil swordsmen; Berzerkers, like Gutsman, who go on blind rampages; and Red Mages, like Searchman, are a mix between fighters and mages," she explained. "Most are humes, which, like us, look like humans. There are also people who look like elves, called Eveleens, and some other people who I have no idea what they are."

"Sorry I asked," Dekao replied as Enzan smirked.

"Well, I got it all down. I guess it just takes a little more intelligence," he sneered.

"Oh will you two cut it out?" Meiru asked, exasperated. "They've been at it since we got here." Roll laughed and turned to look at the castle.

"It looks like there's a fight going on," Searchman said as he pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Uh-oh. Remember those black mages that we met at the market?"

"Yeah," Roll replied as Blues, Gutsman, and Forte appeared.

"Well, it looks like they're being attacked, and their other teammates too."

"What does that mean?" asked Netto.

"Rock's under attack."

---

"_Orinda, where are you?" _Rock thought desperately.

"_We're on our way,"_ the dragon replied. Rock shot another fireball at the seemingly unending line of fighters. Everyone was fighting as hard as they could, and they were almost spent.

"Oh for the love of, how many more are there?" Min asked.

"Who knows," Tabor said as he shot another stream of water at the military and Min zapped them.

"Face it, we have you outnumbered and outmatched," one of the fighters said. Suddenly, a roar pierced the silence of a battlefield.

"Finally," Rock sighed. "Well, I'd love to finish this now, but we really need to get going."

(Change of POV)

"What was that?" asked Netto.

"It sounded like a dragon," Blues replied as four large shadows flew over them and towards the castle.

"Dragons? DRAGONS!" asked Forte. "Screw Rock. I've had my fill of dragons for this lifetime."

"Wait, those dragons have reigns on them. And it looks like, oh no," Searchman said.

"What?" everyone asked.

"They're going to jump it," he replied as they watched the figures of the four mages run to the edge and jump off. They were caught by the dragons.

"Lucky, de gutsu," Gutsman commented after the four riders mounted their steeds, yelled something, which Forte swears that Rock yelled a few cuss words, and flew off.

---

"I can't believe that Rock called them f---ing idiots!" Forte laughed (A:N/ Forte believes that he said the whole word, not just the f part.)

"Neither can I, which is why I don't," Blues replied as he finished cooking dinner. "Dinner's ready."

"I didn't know that you could cook," Enzan said as he helped set the table.

"I didn't know until I got here," Blues smiled. "I can't begin to tell you how much I've missed you, Enzan-sama."

"Awww, how sweet," Forte said as he appeared in the doorway. Blues rolled his eyes and Enzan just walked out of the room. _"Let's see, that's me, all of the fights, everyone else zero."_

"So, has he been like this the whole time?" asked Laika.

"Guess," Roll said as Enzan entered the family room.

"Dinner is ready," he told everyone.

"Thanks," they replied as they went to the dining room.

"I wonder what Rock's doing right now," Netto said as he started to play with his food.

---

"So we have that dried meat and those fruits that we bought today," Min said as they sat down for dinner.

"I made some plates," Lykaios told them as he set the platters and plates in front of each mage.

"So you found my friends just in time for us to get the boot from the city," Rock sighed. "Great, just perfect. So, what'd you think of them?"

"Well, that Forte guy was pretty hot," Min smiled. "I mean, really hot." Rock started to laugh.

"Forte is a bad guy in my world. He hates all humans," he said as soon as he got his breathing under control.

"Those are the people that help you fight, right?" Tabor asked after he got a plateful of cherries and pears.

"Yeah, but not all of them," he replied.

"_Rockman-kun, what's the matter?" _Orinda asked, using a mix between his nickname and his real name.

"_I really miss Roll-chan, Netto-kun, and everyone else,"_ he sighed. _"Now that I know that I could have at least seen Roll-chan." _

"Rock, you ok?" asked Min. "'Cause you look like you're about to cry."

"I be back later," he said as he stood up and left.

"Poor guy. He must really miss her," Lykaios sighed. "Roll looked like a sweet girl. I can see why he's in love."

"Yeah, and Forte was really hot," Min replied before smiling. "Yeah, I know, 'Way to spoil the mood Min'." The boys just rolled their eyes and finished eating.

**End Chapter**

Poor Rock-kun. He just seemed to miss everyone. R+R plz


	9. Chapter 9

Boy, school is a pain. At least it's starting off slow. I might have a bit of trouble writing later on, but I may be able to pass this off for something in English. Or as English homework. Ok, I noticed something; in the earlier chapters I called Searchman a magic knight, when he's really a red mage. Sorry about the mix-up.

**Ben-Oni Saito-** i'm glad that you like the story so far!

**LemmingRebel-** yes, poor Rock indeed

**Rose-** yes, forte will stay. it seems that everyone agrees on the "poor Rock" thing.

**Begin Chapter**

"This is just what I was afraid of," King Charles sighed as he rubbed his temple. Team one had returned from Bastok the day before, and both teams, military leaders, and the king were in the planning room planning their next move. (A:N- Gasp, they're planning in the planning room!) "Are you comfortable Lucio?" Rock was laying on one of tables trying to think.

"I'm just trying to think," he sighed. "Why did they attack? All we did-"

"All you did was question their power," The General sighed. "You may have not done it on purpose, but you did." Rock sighed again and hit his head on the table. "What else went wrong in Bastok, Lucio?"

"Yeah honey," Caitlin asked. "You've been really depressed lately."

"My friends and family are in Bastok, they must have just arrived, and I didn't get to see them," he said quietly. "I haven't seen them in a month." Caitlin put on a sad face, and she walked over to him with every intention of giving him a hug. "Back off."

"But."

"But nothing. Listen, I have a major headache, I'm going to pop a few pain-killers and go crash in my new room," he said as he walked out of the room.

"Poor boy," the king sighed. Rock walked around the castle and to the stables.

"_Orinda, could you fly me up to our team's tower?" _he asked.

"_Sure," _the dragon replied. Orinda stretched, and allowed Rock to mount. Orinda spread his wings, and flew Rock to the top. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you what happened, how stupid of me. After team one returned from Bastok, the king decided that it would be a good idea to move his high-ranking people to the castle. Team one chose to take the top three floors of the tallest tower. When the king asked why, Rock told him that they would be able to keep watch easier. The real reason was because they didn't want visitors. They re-did the floor right below theirs so that the stairs would stop. They also changed part of the floor to come down like an elevator. Also, on the top of the tower, they had a balcony, so they could dismount. Rock jumped off of Orinda and walked inside, after saying thanks, of course. He went to the bathroom, grabbed two extra-strength pain killers, and popped them dry.

"Why am I all of the sudden getting so sick?" he asked his reflection as he walked down one flight of stairs to his room. Each of their new rooms were decorated like their element. Rock's walls were black, and had fire swirling around. Min had black walls as well, and blue lightning striking. Tabor's walls looked like water, and Lykaios had a forest for wallpaper. They each had matching carpet. Rock sighed as he threw himself on the bed. He had a wonderful view of the outlying areas of BMC, and he always looked for any sign that someone was coming. (Wow, this is a piece of crap paragraph). "What is going on?" He started to feel dizzy, and he lay back down and went to sleep.

---

"Everyone ready to go?" asked Netto that same day.

"Everyone ready to go," Forte mimicked. Roll rolled her eyes and picked up her ever-so-trusty bag of scrolls.

"Yes," she said as she walked out of the house. Blues, Searchman, Laika, and Enzan had left a few hours ago to buy supplies for the trip and sell the house while everyone else packed up. They agreed to meet at the market, where the larger group was now headed. "So, do you know what your 'races' are?"

"What do you mean by 'races?" asked Deako.

"She already explained it once," Meiru sighed. "I'm a white mage too, right?"

"Yep," Roll smiled. "Deako, you are a berserker, Netto, you're a black mage. I think that whatever you navi is here, that's what you are."

"I don't know," Blues said as their groups met up and started towards the gates. "Enzan is a fighter, but Laika is a sniper."

"Great, two fighters," Forte sighed, and he walked over to Netto. "Ok, I'm going to tell you this since Rockman isn't here. All fighters think about is swords. Black mages usually don't like them, and I don't think that fighters like black mages. I have a feeling that all we will be hearing about this trip is swords. And I bet that every town we come to, 'oh, is there a sword shop here?'"

"Sounds like you don't like Fighters either," he replied while cocking an eyebrow.

"I agree with most black mages, that's all," he smiled. Netto shook his head as they reached the gate. Everyone was allowed out, until Netto tried to go through.

"What's the holdup?" he asked.

"You're a black mage," the guard said.

"Thanks for noticing, now let me go," he sighed.

"We can't allow that," the other guard said. By this time, Searchman, Gutsman, Blues, and, after being told that he can beat the crap out of something, Forte had walked back.

"And why the hell not?" asked Forte. "I thought that you wouldn't want a weak and puny mage in this city."

"All black mages are to be taken to the king."

"Are you a robot?"

"No."

"Are you stupid?"

"No."

"Yes you are."

"Why am I stupid?"

"Because you don't know who you're messing with." Blues sighed as he slowly led Netto out of the line of fire, followed closely by the other two. All of the sudden, Forte whipped out a black sword, which was pulsating with dark energy.

"You are under arrest for threatening a guard of the Royal country of Bastok." Forte rolled his eyes and sliced both of them in half. The ops stood their flabbergasted as Roll put her head in her hand and shook it. The other three guys sighed.

"I think that we should start running," Forte said calmly as he re-sheathed his sword. "I don't think that the fighters will be too pleased to see two of their bumbling idiots dead."

"Y-you just killed them," Enzan stuttered.

"Yes, you can do that when you're as strong as me. Now let's go on our merry way." Roll sighed and encouraged Meiru and Netto to move. Enzan and Laika had started to walk on their own accord, as did Meiru and Netto once they got moving, but Deako had to be carried by Gutsman. "So, which way are we supposed to be going?" Netto pulled out the device, and pointed toward a forest.

"That way, but I don't like the look of that forest," he said in a shaky voice.

"You need to get used to that kid," Forte sighed. "That forest is full of baddies. That's a kill or be killed area."

"Isn't everything here like that?" asked Searchman.

"I think that it is," Roll said as she looked back towards Bastok. "But I think that staying off of the roads would be a good idea, at least until we get out of Bastok's controlled area." Meiru gulped as she held onto Roll, and they started towards the forest. After walking for a few minutes, the Ops got more comfortable, and they allowed their navis to walk on their own. Forte had been bringing up the real, and Roll went to talk to him. "Are you going to keep watch over Netto?"

"Well, since he'd get a warped world view with anyone else, I guess so," he shrugged.

"Warped? How so?" she asked.

"Blues would teach him all about swords. Black mages hate Red Mages, so Searchman is out. Gutsman would probably crush him, and you're too soft. I'm the one who knows a lot about black mages."

"What do you know and how do you know it?"

"On the ship, and in bars, I'd hang out with the bad-ass black mages. It's amazing what a drunk black mage can tell ya," he laughed. "So I'll teach the kid the basics, and leave the rest to his navi. It looks like Gutsman and Deako are getting into a fight." Sure enough, the two berserkers were glaring daggers at each other.

"I'll go get Netto and Meiru away from them," she said as she ran up to the two, who looked like they were going to try and stop the inevitable. "Leave them to me." They gave her a questioning look, and she walked over to the two of them. "Touch of Serenity," she smiled as she touched both on the neck. Instantly they both fell over.

"What did you do to them?" asked Meiru.

"Well, I did the touch of serenity spell," she smiled.

"I think that you put too much serenity in it," Blues smiled. "We need to get them up now. We have to get out of Bastok by nightfall."

"How're we going to do that?" asked Enzan.

"Netto, can you do a water spell?" asked Searchman.

"I can do an ice spell," he answered.

"Can you do a fire spell?" asked Forte as Roll hit him on the head. "What? He can melt the ice with it." Netto formed an icicle, held it over the unconscious berserkers, and melted it. Both bolted upright as soon as the freezing water hit them. "Told ya."

"How long was I out?" asked Deako as he rubbed his head.

"A minute tops," Searchman replied as he helped both up. "Now let's get going."

---

As the group of his friends made it through the forest, Rock had a dream.

begin dream

Rock opened his eyes, and saw the blue grid of the net. He stood up and looked around. "Rock-kun!" Roll yelled as she tackled Rock. "I missed you so much!"

"Me too Roll-chan," he smiled as he hugged her back. "How did we get back to the net?"

"Back? What do you mean? We never left," she said.

"But we were sent to that weird place with the monsters, and I couldn't find you," he replied as Roll giggled.

"Rock-kun, you dreamed all of that up silly," she smiled, but then she sighed and let her smile fall.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's just that I thought that I had lost you," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Roll sighed as she fought back tears.

"When that dragon started his final attack, you jumped out and took it on one on one. You took many direct hits, but you finally deleted it. But it did something to your data, and you collapsed. We all thought that it was because you were exhausted from the fight, but the next morning, you were still out cold. Netto took you to Hikari-hakase, and he said that you were about to be deleted. The dragon had some sort of poison, and it had bitten you." She paused as she kept fighting the tears. "So we had to find the anti-venom. It took so long. We almost lost you. I almost lost you." Rock sat there in shock.

"How come you can remember it but I can't?" he asked.

"Dr. Hikari said that that might happen because of the venom," she said, tearing up. Rock pulled her into his lap, and rocked her as she broke down.

"It's ok, I'm here. I'm back," he whispered as she cried. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, the net was gone, and he was flying over Bastok. Flying over Bastok without a dragon. "What the-?" He looked around the map, and saw a forest. Suddenly, his body flew to the forest, and he saw a freshly beaten path. Curiosity got the better of him, and he started down it.

"Good job Netto!" he heard someone say. Hearing his Op's name being called he ran towards the source. As he came to the clearing, he saw Meiru, Enzan, Laika, Deako, Netto, Roll, Blues, Searchman, Gutsman and Forte walking away. _"What's going on?" _ he thought as he followed at a safe distance. _"One second I'm in the net, the next I'm in a random forest following my friends like a thief would."_ Everyone was chatting, and not watching where they were going. All of the sudden, a band of five thieves jumped out.

"Hand over everything, and you'll live," one snarled. Rock could tell by looking at them that they were high level, a few higher than him.

"Why should we?" asked Forte. One of them pulled out a huge sword. All of the Ops were back behind their navis, except for Netto. The one who had spoken grabbed Netto and held a poison blade to his throat. This angered Rock, who jumped out from behind the tree and started to advance on the thieves.

"Let him go," he commanded in a low and dangerous voice.

"F-f-fire demon!" the blade wielding one yelled as he dropped Netto and backed up. "Leave us alone! We were just kidding!"

"You threatened them, so you're going down," Rock snarled as he pulled out a fire sword. The thieves pulled out their swords as well, and started the attack. Rock handled the sword superbly. And when he thought that he was about to be overwhelmed, he ignited a fire-aura. Whenever one of them got too close they got severely burned. After a few minutes of this the thieves ran for it. Rock turned around and started towards his friends. "Are you ok?" he asked as he tried to help Netto up. But as he got closer, Blues and Searchman got in front of him.

"What are you and what do you want with us?" Blues growled. Rock was taken aback.

"Very funny Blues," he laughed as he started towards Netto again, but Blues stopped him with his sword.

"How do you know my name?" he asked. Rock looked around confused.

"How could I not know your name," Rock answered. By this time, Netto had gotten up and looked at the being in front of him.

"Rock?" he asked. Rock shook his head yes. "Why are you on fire?" Rock looked down at himself, and saw that he was basically fire in the shape of a human.

"This is new," he said as he sat down and put his head in his hand.

"Rock, what's wrong?" asked Roll as she came over and sat down in front of him.

"I have no idea what's going on. One second I have this huge head ache, and I'm asleep in bed, next I'm in this weird dream, and now I'm here, and made of fire," he replied.

"Maybe if we drench you in water, you'll wake up and figure out what's going on," Forte said. Roll threw some Pure white magic at him. "Ouch, it was just a suggestion." Rock smiled.

"How did everyone get here?" he asked.

"Well, I think that we were taken by the dragon," Roll said. "And Hikari-hakase built something that sent our ops here." Rock shook his head, and heard someone call his name.

"Who said that?" he asked.

"What?"

"My name," he replied as he heard his name again. "There it is again. It sounds like Min. I'm still asleep," he said suddenly. "And they're trying to wake me up. Ok, I don't know if this is a dream or not, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Come to BMC. That's where I am. Tell the guard at the gate that you're there to see Lucio, or that you're there to see Elite team one. That is, if I'm not there. See ya soon."

"Rock wait," Roll yelled as he woke up soaking wet.

"What was that for?"

"I told you that if you didn't wake up that we'd pour freezing water on you," Min replied. "It's time for dinner." Rock sighed as he fell back onto his bed, and sighed.

"_Just my luck,"_ he thought as he got up and changed into dry clothes.

---

"That was probably the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life," Blues said. Roll was still sitting in the same spot, staring at where Rock had vanished from. "It looked like someone poured a bucket of water on him, and put the fire out."

"We need to get going," Searchman replied as he started to walk again. "We still have a ways to go." Everyone sighed as they started towards BMC and their final destination.

**End Chapter**

Lol, final destination.


	10. ignore this

Ignore this. it wouldn't update. -.- i chose to add this because i'm too lazy to figure out why it's like this.  



	11. Chapter 11

OMG, update!

**Begin Chapter**

Two days after his "meeting" with his friends, Rock was trying anything to keep his mind off of the time that it took them to travel. He ended up, after running from Caitlin, in an old potion shop owned by a large Mage named "Doc." Rock and Doc soon became friends, and he started to spend more time at his shop. "Hey Doc," he said as he entered the shop.

"Rock, how are you today?" Doc asked.

"Fine. I've got a question."

"What is it m'boy?" Rock grinned inwardly at this nickname.

"Do you remember the dream that I told you about?"

"Yes I do. Would you like to try and send your mind in the aura again?" Rock nodded as Doc smiled. "I think that I have just the thing." He started to rummage through the drawers, and found a small vial. "Last time, you were hinting that you wanted to try and find that again, so I mad this potion that should work. The instructions for using this is this: lay down in bed and drink this potion. You should get that headache again, and wake up near them. It should work, and there should be no side affects, other than a headache."

"Arigato," he said as he took the vial.

"Remind me what that means, again," Doc smiled.

"It means 'thank-you' in my native tongue," Rock grinned as he left the shop. "Jaa nee!" He left the shop, but then poked his head back in. "That means goodbye."

"Jaa nee then Rock." He re-left the shop and started to laugh a little bit as he started back towards the castle.

"_Enzan and Blues would probably freak if they heard that usage of Japanese," _he thought. _"Well, time to see if Doc's potion works." _

"_Will you need a ride to the top?"_ Orinda's voice suddenly rang out. Rock jumped a little bit, but was able to recover.

"_Yeah, I'm entering the courtyard now."_ He heard the beating of wings, and felt a large clawed hand grasp him around the waist before he started to ascend. Orinda set him down gently, and Rock went inside. He ran to his room and locked the doors and windows. _"I really don't want to be disturbed this time,"_ he thought as he lay down and drank the vial.

---

Rock felt the sensation of flying quickly after he fell asleep, or passed out, and saw the plains around Windrust. _"They made excellent time," _he thought as he started towards the small dots that soon became his friends. He landed right between Roll and Netto. "Hey." Everyone jumped.

"What are you doing back?" asked Forte. "We're going as fast as we can."

"I just wanted to see where you were," Rock sighed as he rolled his eyes.

"So, how did you get here this time Rock-kun?" asked Roll.

"I drank a potion that allowed me to do this," he shrugged. "It's from one of the Royal potion masters."

"Who cares?" asked Blues. "So, is there an air ship to BMC?"

"Um, I don't think so, but there's one to Kazham, and then you only have to go through the Yuhtunga Jungle to get to BMC. It's between Yuhtunga Jungle and Yhoator Jungle, just south of Gemini Falls, but north of Norg," he finished with a smile

"Could you write that down?" asked Deako.

"I would, but I'm made of fire right now, and I would probably burn anything I touch." Roll quickly got out a pencil and paper, said a few magic words, and then threw them at Rock.

"Here, you should be able to use that," she smiled. Rock took the paper and wrote this.

Go to Windurst and get on an airship headed for Kazham.

Then travel down the path in Yuhtunga Jungle. When you come to the Hideen Valley, go East.

Keep going east until you hit BMC.

Ask the guards at the gate for 'Lucio'.

He handed the paper back as a wave of pain hit his head. He reached up and grabbed it as his face twisted into a mask of pain. "Rock, what's wrong?" Netto asked.

"I think the potion is wearing off, and I just got the biggest headache in the world. I need to wake up," he grunted through the pain.

"Netto, hit him with a water spell," Forte said, looking at the NetOp. Netto nodded and prepared the water. When he thought that he had enough water, he splashed his navi. The Fire went out, and Rock opened his eyes. He was back in his bed.

---

"Why do you think that he was in so much pain?" asked Laika.

"Well, if you send your consciousness somewhere else for a long time, you're likely to permanently injure yourself," Roll stated. "And the fact that he forced himself to do that may have something to do with it." Everyone started to talk about that as they walked, except for Netto. He fell to the back of the group, and Forte followed him.

"What's wrong kiddo?" Forte asked.

"Nothin, just thinking," Netto sighed. "Why did he have to get separated?"

"Because fate is a cruel mistress Netto," Forte replied as he looked at the mismatched team in front of them. "Like why am I stuck babysitting two fighters, two berserkers, and a black mage?"

"Hey!" Netto looked at Forte before he was stuck in a headlock, getting a noogie. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Of course you do," he smiled, releasing the younger boy. "What do you think Rock is? He's your babysitter." Netto just sent him a small glare as he shook his head.

"Whatever," he sighed as Forte smirked.

"Will you two hurry up? We want to get there before nightfall," Blues yelled.

"Shut-up fighter, we're not going to shop for swords when we get there. If anything we're getting the mage some new spells, because he needs them."

"Enzan needs a new sword," Blues sighed.

"Meiru needs some new spells as well as Netto," Roll said. "And since we can probably get some swords on the air ship, we'll get the scrolls here." Blues huffed as the walls of Windurst came into view. For those who hadn't been there before, they started at it open mouthed. "Come on," she said as she tried to get the Op's moving again.

"Wow," Meiru breathed as they entered the gates.

"Let's find a place to sleep tonight and find out when the next air-plane leaves for Kazham," Searchman said.

"Well, there's only about fifteen inns in Windurst, and there's Gin," Forte said as he looked around the group, and catching the sub-zero glare from Roll. "Or no Gin. How about we split into two groups and meet here around seven. It's four now."

"Fine," Laika replied as he, Searchman, Blues, Enzan, Gutsman, and Deako walked towards the Air-ship port. The rest of them walked towards the first inn they saw.

"Hello, we need two rooms for tonight," Roll told the man at the counter.

"What size?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

"One for two people, and one for eight." He rummaged through the drawers and pulled out the two keys. The small group bowed and left. "I know of this great little store where we can find you some spells Meiru. Forte, do you remember those black mages that Blues got into a fight with?"

"Yeah."

"They are the ones who found Rock, and so they should know of some good stores to buy Netto some scrolls. Or they might give you some."

"Ok. Come on Netto," Forte yawned as they started towards the mage's home. "We might as well talk to that black mage at the school thing as well. He knew your Navi."

"Wow." Forte smirked and led them towards the school.

---

"Owwww," Rock moaned as he tried to sit up for the fifth time since he woke up. "My head."

"Rock, are you in there?" asked Lykaios through the door.

"Yes," he growled. "My head hurts, what's wrong?"

"Well, I was going to tell you that lunch was ready, but if your head hurts too much you should just rest," he replied. Rock muttered a thanks and laid back down.

"So, what did he say?" asked Min as Lykaios re-entered the kitchen.

"He has a headache. I want food," he whined.

"So, what's up with him and migraines?" questioned Tabor.

"It's probably just stress," Min commented. "It probably got worse now that he found out that his family is here and he couldn't find them." They suddenly heard a moan of pain come from the door.

"Where are those painkillers?" Rock asked.

"Well, if you eat some stew, I'll give you the bottle," Min smiled.

"Fine," he sighed as he sat down and grabbed a bowl. Five minutes later he was finished. "Wow, what did you put in this stuff?"

"Meat, potatoes, and veggies, why?"

"My headache's gone."

"You were probably just hungry," Tabor laughed and Rock smiled.

"So, it looks like we're going to be on gate and wall duty," Lykaios said.

"What's with the sudden change of topic?" Min asked.

"I just remembered," he sighed as everyone laughed. "We get wall guarding duty with some regular guys, and Team 2 has gate duty with regs."

"Oh joy," Rock sighed. "But at least we can annoy them." Everyone smiled. "We can guard the walls above the gates, each sticking to our elements."

"Sounds good boss," Tabor said with a mock salute. Rock just rolled his eyes and walked out onto the balcony.

---

"So, are you the one who came right after the selection, am I correct?" Hideaki asked. Forte and Netto had entered the Academy and Hideaki had recognized him almost immediately. "I hardly ever forget a face," he smiled as he shook his hand. "And who's this young Mage?"

"Rock's, um, younger…brother," Forte said. Hideaki looked confused for a few seconds before he seemed to get it.

"So, Rock has a sibling, and he would like to learn some new spells, correct?" he asked. Netto shook his head. "Well, I think that I may have something for a level 10 mage." Hideaki walked into a back room and started rummaging through some scrolls.

"Level?" Netto whispered to Forte.

"It means how strong you are," Forte replied.

"Oh, ok," Netto replied. After a few minutes Hideaki returned with five scrolls.

"Here we are," he said as he put them in a bag for Netto to carry. "There are one lightning, one water, one earth, and two fire scrolls here. These are rather high level, so you should be able to use these for a while without having to change them out for new ones."

"Thank you," Netto bowed as he accepted the bag.

"How much would you like for these scrolls?" asked Forte, pulling out his bag of Gil.

"This is a gift," Hideaki smiled. "I trained Rock, so this is no trouble. These are actually his scrolls, the ones that he used. I can't sell his own scrolls to his brother."

"Thank you Hideaki-sama," Netto bowed again, and the teacher smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Why don't you show those stuck up brats down there what you can do right now?" he asked. Netto smiled and ran down to the open area. "Before you ask, I got him to go down there because I need to ask you something. Have you heard that the Bastok army is on the move?"

"Yes," Forte sighed. "I also know why they're on the move. Rock met with the king to return some spies, and the king got angry. He sicked his goons on Rock and his team. Rock fought back, and hi-tailed it to BMC. That's where we're headed." Hideaki shook his head in understanding.

"I also know about Rock's 'status' in your world. So Netto is his Operator?"

"Yep." Hideaki smiled as a scream of pain came from the field. Forte and Hideaki looked at the field, and saw Netto standing in the middle of a group of KOed Black Mages. "GOOD JOB SQUIRT," Forte yelled as Netto smiled. "We'd better get going."

"Be careful on your way there," Hideaki said as the two of them got ready to leave. "The Fighters have spies everywhere." Forte nodded and left. They arrived right a seven.

"And for a second there, I thought that you two wouldn't show," Blues smiled.

"Ha ha ha you're so funny Blues," Forte said sarcastically. "How do you do it?" Blues just shook his head and started to walk towards the inn. "And that's how you annoy Blues, and Enzan for that matter," he whispered to Netto.

"What are you two talking about back there?" asked Roll as she walked over to the two boys.

"Nothing," Forte replied in a sing-song voice as Netto and Meiru started snickering. "Just talking to Netto here, yep, about Mage stuff." As Roll started to chew Forte out, Meiru and Netto started walking towards the other group, which was almost at the inn, three blocks away.

"So, what _did_ he tell you?" she asked.

"He just said that that's how you annoy Enzan and Blues," he replied truthfully. "So, what scrolls did you get?"

"Just some starter ones. Basic healing and stuff like that. You?"

"I got Rock's scrolls. Apparently he went to this Academy thing, and that's why he's at BMC now. The only thing that was a little weird was Forte called me Rock's little brother."

"That's probably just so that he would give them to you. These people probably have never heard of Navis." They had made it about halfway to the inn when someone grabbed the two and drug them into a dark alley. They both started to scream, but the people were able to silence them quickly with a spell before they threw them against the far wall.

"Hand over the scrolls and we'll let you live," the first one said. As Netto's eyes got adjusted to the light, he noticed that they were some Bastok fighters. "Well, it'll give us more incentive to let you live. Especially you, Black Mage."

"Hey boss, he looks like the one who escaped Bastok with those others. I think he's with the group that killed Ed," the second one said in a deep voice. "Let's kill him." Netto's eyes got wide, but then narrowed in determination. He put himself into a fighting stance. The two fighters started to laugh. "Looks like the twerp wants to fight us."

"Let him. That way we'll have a good excuse as to why we have two dead mages," the first one smiled. Netto growled, and thrust his hands into the ground as the fighters drew their swords. The started to charge as two large hands made out of wood appeared. They grabbed hold of the fighters, and disarmed them. The first one growled. "So, the little boy wants to play hard ball, eh? Fine with me!" He grabbed a second sword and cut through the wood as he charged at Netto. Netto gathered fire in his hands, and blasted the fighter as he started to swing his sword for the kill. The fire, coupled with the fact that the fighter was wearing metal armor, burned the fighter badly.

"Fine brat. You can defend yourself, but you can't defend both of you at once," the second one glared. He charged Meiru, but he was hit back by Meiru's white hammer. Meiru smirked, obviously proud of herself, and ran over to Netto. "Grrrr, you're going to pay for that one, believe me you will." He charged again. This time, Netto had time to create a ball of lightning. As the fighter swung, Netto zapped him. The fighter dropped his sword, which sliced Netto's shoulder, and fell over twitching. Meiru and Netto ran for it as the spell wore off.

"MEIRU, NETTO, WHERE ARE YOU!? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" they heard Roll yelling from the inn. They heard a groan/growl from behind them. Netto spared a glance over his shoulder, and saw the first fighter chasing them. Netto started to fun faster, grabbing Meiru's hand as he passed her. They made it to the group, and hid behind the Navis.

"Sheesh kid, what's wrong with you?" asked Forte. He heard the strange growl, and turned around to find a half-dead fighter running straight for them.

"You're going to pay for that kid!" he snarled. Forte looked him over, and noticed that he had been barbequed. He started to laugh. "What the hell is so funny?"

"You got beat up by a low level Black Mage," he laughed. The fighter didn't think it was all that funny.

"Yeah, and now I want his head," the fighter snarled as he brandished his sword. He started to charge, but was blocked by Blues. "Back off, traitor."

"You can't call me a traitor if I never was for something in the first place," Blues said plainly.

"Are you the one who killed the guard at the gate?"

"No, that was me," Forte said as he ran his sword through the fighter's shoulder. "I'd suggest leaving before I let the lower levels use you for target practice." Forte pulled his blade out and the fighter ran off. "Coward." During the battle Searchman, and Gutsman had been defending the Ops, while Roll started to heal Netto's shoulder. "You ok kid?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied as he moved his shoulder around. "Thanks Roll."

"No problem, but have you learned something today?"

"Yeah, well, actually not really. I already knew that metal was a good conductor of heat and energy," he smiled and Forte gave him a thumbs up from behind Rolls back.

"-sigh- Well, I guess that can't be… wait, did you say energy? I only saw burn marks."

"Well yeah, that's because I only used a fire spell on him. I used an electric one on the other guy. The second one's the one that did this to me," he replied as he grabbed his shoulder. Searchman sighed.

"And here I thought that we'd be safer here in Windurst," he said. "I guess that the sooner we get to BMC, the better." Everyone nodded as they entered the inn.

---

Rock had been sitting on the railing of the balcony, staring at the city for an hour when Min exited the tower. "Sup?" Rock turned around.

"Nothing much, you?"

"Same. So, did you find out more about that thing we're supposed to be guarding?"

"You mean the wall?" Min rolled her eyes. "Well, I got it rigged so that I guard the wall above Maiju, you have it above Caitlin, Tabor has it above Shiro, and Lykaios above Alger."

"Fun fun stuff. So, any news on your family?"

"They're on their way. I heard that they're going to take an airship to Kazham and walk the rest of the way. I made sure that I got the wall above the gate to the Yuhtunga Jungle. That's where they're gonna be coming from."

"That's nice."

"Have you gotten over your 'crush' on Forte?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean he's hott, but not that hott. We have a battle coming up, and I think I freaked him out a little." Rock laughed.

"Well, from what I heard, you were very very hyper."

"Sorry, can't help it. But I've gotten something for ADD since then," she winked. Rock just rolled his eyes and continued to look at the jungle in the distance.

**End Chapter**

Yay, I finally updated. Please please please review. ::insert puppy dog face here:: I did update after all. ::smiley face:: oh, and if I mistook my elements for Shino and Alger, please don't flame. I did write something after all.


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, so I'm updating. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I only got one last time, and I was really sad. T.T; and now for something completely different.

I don't know if I made this clear in the first time that I introduced BMC, but the wall is really tall. Like _really _ tall. As in the two story houses that are built around the inside of the wall are like a 4 story drop from the top. Now you may be asking, 'why is this crazy author telling me this?' well, it's because you need to picture a huge wall in order to understand some things in the story.

**Begin Chapter**

"_I hate guard duty,"_ Rock thought two days later. He had started guarding the wall yesterday, and thankfully was allowed to wear a comfortable shirt this time with chain mail underneath. _"At least everyone should be here today."_ Overseeing the wall is not a lot of fun, especially when you have to endure the not so witty taunts of Maiju.

"Hey Lucio, so when's your family supposed to be here? Because I'm going to love denying them entry," Maiju yelled up to the top, but was surprised at what he saw, or rather, what he didn't see. Rock had disappeared. "Abandoning your post?" All of the sudden, a small fireball hit his armor.

"I'd like to see you try and keep them out," came Rock's disembodied voice. After searching the turrets for Rock, Maiju gave up. The only proof that he was still there were the pebbles and small fireballs that hit Maiju randomly.

---

"How much longer 'till we get there?" whined Deako. Everyone was making their way though the Yhugata Jungle, and it was taking quite a while. Every so often either Gutsman or Deako would get stuck, so Forte, Blues, or, if they were causing a scene, Netto had to cut them out of the undergrowth.

"We get there when we get there," Forte yelled as he spun around and glared at the berserker. "Jeez, how many times do we have to tell you that it's a ways to go?!"

"Fifteen?" whispered Netto to Meiru and Enzan. The two youngest snickered while Enzan smirked. Forte growled at the two behemoths as he stormed off towards the south. Everyone cleared out of his way as he passed. After he was twenty feet in front of them, the Ops felt someone push them slightly to get them moving again. Netto looked up, and saw Blues behind him and Enzan, while Roll was beside Meiru. "What's his problem?"

"He's just not used to being stuck with people and/or navis with such exuberant personalities," Blues explained. "He's used to being alone." Netto frowned at the retreating form of the dark knight that led them. After a few minutes, they arrived at the Hideen Valley.

"Time to start heading east. We should be there by nightfall," Forte yelled back at the group. He had started to overtake them again now that he was out of the brush.

"Netto, why don't you go with him and make sure that he doesn't run off?" Searchman suggested. Netto looked up at the two taller navis on either side of him for confirmation before running to catch up with Forte.

"Good idea, de gutsu?" asked Gutsman.

"Well, Forte won't attack him because of Rock, and I think that he's become attached to Netto a little bit," Blues stated. Everyone stared at him flabbergasted. "What?"

"Forte hates humans, Netto especially. Netto's stopped him countless times, so why should he be close to him?" asked Searchman.

"Even he has a speck of humanity in him. He's seen all of us with our Ops, and probably felt a little left out. Netto's missing Rock, so Forte decided to take care of Netto like we're doing. Haven't you noticed how his temper's been getting shorter the closer we get to BMC?"

"I thought that he just wouldn't want to see Rockman," Laika stated. "They _are_ enemies."

"We're his 'enemies' as well," Blues said with a shrug. "I think that he deep down wants an Op."

---

"Forte, wait up!" Netto yelled as he ran to catch up with the taller navi. He saw Forte sigh and slow down.

"What is it kid?" Netto stopped for a second to catch his breath before answering.

"You said that you'd help me with this new ice spell," he said. Forte turned around and smirked.

"I said that I _might_ help you. I'm not a mage, so I don't really know how all of that stuff works," he replied. "But what the heck. Where's the scroll?" Netto smiled and rummaged through his bag and pulled out the scroll.

"All that I don't get is what does Rock mean when he says 'use the humidity, if there is any,'? What is humidity again?" Forte sighed as he studied the plain that was stretched in front of them.

"Humidity is water in the air. Rock's saying that if there's water in the air, you can use that for a quick shot instead of having to wait for it to come out of the ground," he explained.

"Oh, ok," Netto said as the started to think a little bit before he too looked over the plains. "What's that?" He pointed to a small black dot on the horizon.

"That's probably BMC," Forte said as he squinted to try and make out some details. "You may want to cover your ears." Netto did with a confused look on his face. "**HEY GUYS**," Forte bellowed. "**NETTO FOUND BMC, WE'RE ALMOST THERE SO HURRY IT UP!** Bet ya five gil that we can out run all of them, even Blues and Enzan."

"No need to bet, I know we can," Netto smiled as he put the scroll back, tightened the straps on the backpack, and started to run, Forte right beside him.

Meanwhile, back with the others…

"What are they doing?" asked Roll.

"They want to race probably," Enzan said. "Want to try and beat them?"

"Sure," Blues replied as they tightened their backpacks and started to chase after the two retreating figures.

"_Stupid boys,"_ Roll thought as she watched Deako and Gutsman try and figure out if they could overtake the four other guys.

---

Rock was officially bored out of his mind. He was sitting on the wall overlooking the field trying to tune out Maiju, who decided that verbal attacks against the mage would be more effective. "And then I'll make sure that they're locked out." Rock rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and I'll get my team to help me get them into the city, baka," he sighed. _"Why me?"_

"But that's illegal. You can't smuggle people into the city. That's against the law."

"And denying my family entrance is also against the law."

"Since when?"

"Since the king found out that they were coming." Maiju stopped for a few seconds.

"So I'll just let the whole city know that two fighters, and a red mage will be allowed to roam our city freely."

"Go right on ahead, the king's already told them." Maiju paused again.

"Well, I bet they'll smell."

"Can't be worse than your insults." Maiju went silent, and Rock smiled as he looked across the plains. He thought that he saw two figures running across it, but it must've been the sun.

"Rock, think fast!" Maiju yelled, and Rock barely had time to fall back onto the wall before a massive fireball hit where he'd been seconds before.

"That's what I do Maiju," he replied as he found some more pebbles to throw down. He restarted his previous bombarding just as a vibrant Coeurl(1) leapt up on top of the wall.

"Message from the king to a one Lucio," he said with a bow. "And yes, I know that a talking coeurl is quite odd, and it's to be expected that you gawk at me for a few seconds." Rock smiled.

"What is the King's message?" he asked. The coeurl stood back up and recited the message. "Lucio, if your family has arrived by dinner, escort them to the main dining hall, after they have freshened up in your tower. I wish to dine with all of you tonight. King Charles." Rock shook his head in understanding.

"Thank you," he smiled. "What's your name?"

"Tau," the leopard like creature replied as he stretched. "Oh I don't want to go back to that stuffy old palace." Rock laughed a little. "I prefer to be outside where I can run around some. Not that I mind being fed, groomed, and comfortable when I get to sleep, it's just that I want to run around, stretch my muscles, things like that."

"Well, you're welcome to join me in annoying Maiju until my family comes, and then you can 'escort' us to the castle. I'm sure that the girls would pet you, and compliment you." Tau laughed a little bit.

"I'd like that," he said as he sat down.

"So Lukio, who's up there with you?" Maiju sneered at the wall.

"Tau, the talking coeurl. He's going to escort me and my family to the castle tonight," Rock smiled from over the battlements. He saw the smirk slide off of his face. "So you'd better not give them any crap, you hear?" Maiju snarled.

"Fine." Rock smiled as he looked to Tau. The coeurl was lying down on the wall with his paws over his snout to try to stop from laughing.

"I never knew that the elites were so….immature," he said as soon as he got himself under control.

"Well, it's true," Rock smiled as he looked back across the field. He no longer saw two small figures, but ten people approaching the walls, four of which were running. "They're here," he whispered.

"Really, where?" Tau asked as he peered over the battlements. "That mismatch group?"

"Yep. Only the black mage is 'related' to me," he said. "The rest are close, close friends."

"_They're here? Are you sure?"_ asked Orinda over the link.

"_Positive. I can almost make out my Op, Op's and my rivals, and our enemy turned friend for the time being."_ Rock started to beam with happiness.

"Maiju, they're running across the plains as we speak. They should be here in an hour."

"An _hour_?! Jeez, how slow are they?"

"Only four of them are running, and it looks like they're racing. There are six of them walking."

"Why don't you go and get them if they're within eye sight?"

"Because I'm not leaving my post." Maiju seemed to do the 'dang it' motion (stomp your foot and snap your finger thing).

"I'll go meet them," Tau suggested. "I can take the dragons and maybe some Hiryuu(2) to help them arrive sooner."

"Ok, just be careful, they haven't had the best of times with dragons," Rock smiled.

"I'll be sure to have the people in the stables put the BMC saddles on them," Tau said as he leapt off of the wall and ran towards the stables.

---

Tau ran all the way into the inner courtyard in about twenty seconds. Not bad for a fourth of a mile. "Stablemen, we need Orinda and several Hiryuu saddled to pick up Lucio's family. Put the BMC saddles on, if you'd be so kind," he panted. The stablemen got to work, and two minutes later, the dragons appeared.

"_So we are to go and pick up the ten people outside of the wall?"_(3) one of the Hiryuu asked.

"_Yes,"_ Tau replied. He did a quick headcount, and found that all the elementals dragons were there. _"You three feel like picking up Lucio's friends?"_

"_He has saved our rider's lives, we owe him at least this much," _Indra, Tabor's dragon said with a shake of his mighty head.

"_Ok then, let's head on out. Would one of you mind carrying me out of the city, I don't feel like jumping the wall right now."_

"_Sure, hop on!"_ Damini, Min's dragon smiled as she lay down and allowed Tau to mount. _"Hang on to the reigns."_ Tau grabbed them with his teeth as the dragons took off. As soon as they were thirty feet from the outer wall in the feild, Damini let Tau off, and he started to run towards the two closest people.

---

"Run faster Netto, they're gaining on us!" Forte yelled as he looked over his shoulder.

"They're not what we should be worried about," Netto said as he stopped, pulling Forte back with him.

"What?" Netto pointed over his shoulder. "Crap, let's go," he said as they started to run back towards the rest of the group. As soon as they all got back together they heard a voice.

"Calm down, calm down, the dragons just want to give you a ride to the city!"

"Who said that?!" asked a freaked out Deako. Blues searched around a bit, and saw a strange orangey-yellowish looking leopard-type cat running towards them.

"I did," it said as it came to a stop right in front of him. "Man it feels good to run." As they were gawking at the strange animal, it stretched, and the dragons landed. "My name is Tau; I'm one of the 'messengers' of the King. I volunteered to bring the dragons here so you wouldn't have to walk all of the way back." He looked a the group. Suddenly, the younger girl was right beside him petting him and scratching his ears.

"He's so cute!" Meiru squealed.

"Thank you," Tau replied with a smile. "So, will you ride to the city, or would you rather get more blisters by walking?"

"We'll ride," Searchman said as he approached one of the dragons cautiously. "Whose dragon is this one?" He gestured to the dark green one behind him.

"She is Lykaios' dragon Eranthe," Tau explained. "The gold one is Min's, and her name is Damini."

"Let me guess the blue one's Rock's, and its name is Rocky jr.," Forte smiled.

"Do you mean Lucio?" Tau asked, confused.

"Yes, Forte did mean Lucio," Roll replied.

"Well, you're wrong Forte. That dragon's not Lucio's, but Tabor's, and his name is Indra. The red one is Rock's and his name is Orinda."

"Cool, I call Orinda!" Netto said as he ran over to the red dragon. As soon as he got close, he saw the coeurl run up beside him and cut him off.

"Perhaps you should all introduce yourselves to the dragons that you will be riding," Tau suggested. He leaned in and whispered to Netto, "Dragons are very proud creatures."

"Oh, ok. Hello Orinda, my name is Hikari Netto. I'm…"_ "Rock's Operator, yes I know,"_ he growled. Of course Netto didn't understand what Orinda said, and took it the wrong way. "What did I do wrong?"

"Oh, you don't speak dragon, of course. Orinda just finished your sentence. Roughly translated, he said that you were Rock's 'operator', whatever that means, and that he knew that it was you," Tau smiled. Orinda lowered himself and allowed Netto to climb on. Tau looked around and saw that most everyone had climbed upon a dragon. "Everyone, listen up. You're going to need to hang on tight to the reigns, and the saddle horn if there is one. Riding a dragon is not like riding a chocobo, so hang on." Everyone agreed to an extent, and Tau started to run towards the city, followed closely by the dragons.

---

"Where'd the dragons and that coeurl go?" asked Maiju ten minutes later. He looked to the top of the wall, and saw Rock staring at the horizon. "HEY!"

"They went to get my family. Chill," Rock replied as he watched the dragons take off. _"How's Netto doing?"_

"_Well, he's an ok rider. I can tell that he's never ridden anything before,"_ Orinda replied. Rock chuckled. _"It'll take us two minutes to get there."_

"_Thank you so very much,"_ Rock said. He could feel the 'your welcome' coming from his dragon. "Maiju, they'll be here in a few minutes, so get ready."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," he grumbled. Just like Orinda had predicted, two minutes later the dragons landed, and Tau ran up. "Welcome to BMC. My name is Maiju, can I help you?" he said in a monotone.

"Aw, come on, you can do better than that!" Rock yelled from the wall. Maiju glared, and got a small fireball to the head as a reward.

"ROCK!!!" Roll yelled. Maiju gave her a funny look.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"Come now, everyone has nicknames Maiju," Tau said as he started through the gates. "Everyone please follow me." Rock watched as his friends walked through the gate. Right then, an mage walked up to him.

"Lucio, sir, I'm here to relieve you of your position," he said.

"Thank you." Rock gave a small bow before he started down the stairs. A minute later, he found himself on the bottom of the stairs, tackled by Roll.

"I missed you so much," she said, almost cried into his shirt. Rock hugged her back.

"It's ok, I'm here, everything's going to be ok," he said, trying to soothe her. After a few more seconds, she stood back up, followed closely by Rock. Next it appeared to be Netto's turn to greet him. Netto ran and hugged him as well, but Rock had his balance this time, and he didn't fall over.

"Jeez, can we go and get a shower now?" asked Forte, thus spoiling the mood. Rock just rolled his eyes and signaled for Tau to lead them to the castle. Not once did Netto leave his side.

As they approached the castle, Rock heard a familiar shrill scream. "_Lucio!!!_" Netto looked up at his navi, and saw the look of dread on his face. He turned around, and saw a, in his opinion, slutty female black mage heading towards them. "Lucio who are these people? And who is this in particular?" she asked, pointing to Roll. Rock thought for a minute, looking at Roll, and whispering something in her ear that made her blush before she nodded a yes, prior to answering.

"These are my family and friends, and this _in particular_ is my girlfriend Roll. Everyone this is the most horrible person you will ever meet, Caitlin."

"Uh Rock," Netto whispered to his navi. "I think that you made her mad." Rock looked a Caitlin, and noticed that she was turning purple, almost green.

"Guys, run," he said as he pushed Netto towards the castle.

"What?"

"Run!" he exclaimed as he grabbed Roll's and Meiru's arms and forced them to start running. Everyone decided to follow his example. As soon as he was sure that they would keep running, he let go, and started to 'talk' to Tau. Tau then took off towards the castle. "Come on, I know a place to hide!" Everyone nodded as they followed him into the keep. He led them off of the stone walkway and around the towers to a stable. They ran inside a small barn looking building before they stopped to catch their breath.

"This castle is huge," Blues said as he looked at the towers behind the wall of the stable.

"Yep," Rock replied as he walked over to Blues. "See that huge tower?" Blues nodded. "That's where we're trying to get."

"And why would we want to do that?" Forte sneered.

"Because there's no way that Caitlin, Maiju, or any other idiots from their team can get up there. Before you ask, I know because that's where I live."

"How get up, de gutsu?" Gutsman asked.

"I was hoping that the dragons could take us up. That's how I usually get up there," he replied.

"Oh _perfect_," Forte exclaimed as he rolled his eyes. "Do you ever do something that doesn't have to do with dragons?" Rock sighed.

"Yes, but they help out almost all the time." He looked outside of the stables. "Anyone see Caitlin?"

"Just who is Caitlin?" asked Laika. After making sure that the coast was clear.

"She is a mage from the other group of 'elites', the only other girl. So she's kind of like Min. And she has a crush on me, and I can't get her to leave me alone, no matter what I do. Trust me; I've tried to get her to leave. That's why my team has the tall tower," he explained.

"So why don't we just take the stairs?" asked Deako.

"I don't feel like wearing out my legs again," Enzan replied.

"Plus, we blocked off the stairs," Rock shrugged.

"Wh-why?" asked Meiru. She and Roll had just finished catching their breath.

"Well, the reason we told the king was to make it a 'stronghold' that could not be overtaken. The real reason is because everyone else was sick and tired of the 'surprise attacks', from Caitlin, and real attacks from Shiro and Maiju," he said as he lied down in a haystack and sighed. _"Orinda, how long would it take to get everyone to the tower?"_

"_Well, if the four others help, ten minutes, but you'll alert Caitlin to what you're doing,"_ he replied.

"_But you could get the quote unquote kids up to the top of the tower before she got here, right? The rest of us can hold our own in a fight,"_ Rock stated.

"_Fine, we'll take them up; just make sure that they don't freak out when we pick them up."_ Rock heard the dragons start to move in the back of the stables.

"Rock-kun, what was that?" Roll asked with a hint of fear in her voice as she hurried to his side.

"It was Orinda and the other dragons. They're going to take us to the tower," he said as he sat up, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"But they can't take us all up at once," Forte stated.

"I know, so they'll take our Op's up first, just in case something happens," Rock said, lying back down.

"Do you think that something will?" asked Netto as the dragons came out.

"Well, Caitlin's P.Oed, and she probably went to get Alger and/or Shiro. So we'll get as many of you up as we can before they get here," Rock yawned as the red dragon pushed him with his nose to get his attention. Rock looked at the dragon, and seemed to remember something. "Oh, you aren't going to ride the dragons this time, they're going to carry you in their hands, so don't squirm."

"Is this safe?" asked Deako as the gold one grabbed him with both of its hands.

"Perfectly," Rock smiled as the dragons took off.

"You know that that girl will know that we're here now, right?" asked Searchman.

"Why do you think that I sent our Op's up first? Because we can fight better than they can," he explained as he stood up and stuck his head outside of the stables. "Great," he said as he ran back. "Caitlin's coming, and she has Shiro with her."

"And they know that we're here," Forte stated. "Should we fight?"

"If we do, it won't be pretty," Blues said, looking outside. "Wait, they're being stopped, by some guard guys. And it seems that the dragons are on their way back."

"Good," Rock replied as the dragons landed again. _"Are they ok?" _

"_They're fine. A little freaked out, but fine. Lykaios was there, so he's probably sending them through the showers,"_ Orinda smiled as he picked up Rock and Roll. The other dragons picked up their 'riders', and took off.

"Rock!" Roll screamed in terror.

"Calm down, its ok. We'll be there soon," he said, trying to comfort her. Orinda made it to the tower first, and set the two mages down. "Thank you." The dragon nodded and flew back to the stables. "Come on, we'd better get in line for the showers." Roll gulped and grabbed Rock's arm. He led her inside, and down the flight of stairs to the bedrooms.

"We have some extra rooms here," he explained as they walked around the corner. "And I think that Lykaios forgot about them." He led her to one of the rooms, and opened the door. The room was clad in white, and a window showed a gorgeous view of the town. The furniture looked like it came out of a painting. It had two beds with a small end table in between them. There were two armoires and a small sitting area. Rock looked at Roll, and smiled when he saw her 'opinion'. "Do you like it?"

"It's wonderful!" she exclaimed as she laid down on one of the beds.

"The restroom's right through here," he said, leading her through a small door. The restroom was quaint, with a small toilet, a bath tub, a shower, and a sink on a cabinet. "There're towels in the cabinet, and there should be a robe in there too."

"Did you do this for me?" she asked.

"My team and I did this to all of the extra rooms here. I knew that you were coming, so I got special rooms for you and Meiru and the rest of the group." Roll smiled and hugged him again. She pulled away and smiled when she saw that he was blushing. "I'm going to see if I can commandeer a shower and I'll meet you back upstairs."

"Ok," she smiled as he left the room. He started down the hall again, and ran into Forte.

"Where's my room?" he asked gruffly.

"This way," Rock sighed. He walked towards a room at the end of the hall. "You don't have to be so rude, you know." Forte rolled his eyes as Rock opened the door to a dark purple room. "Does this work?" Forte walked in before nodding his head.

"This is actually a nice color scheme. Dark purple and black, highlighted with neon purple, not bad, not bad," he said.

"Bathroom's through that door there. Just come upstairs when you're done," Rock said as he left. He hurried back to his room, and entered just in time to see Netto wearing a spare robe leaving his bathroom.

"Hey, the shower's open. I have a question, though," Netto said.

"What is it?"

"What should I wear to the dinner thing tonight?" Rock thought for a second.

"Do you have a second set of those clothes that you were wearing?" Netto nodded. "Just wear that then. And could you tell everyone to just wear what they have, and tell the three other people here to not dress fancy?"

"Ok, you're going to take a shower now?"

"Yeah, you have no idea how grimy you can get just standing in the sun all day." Netto smiled as Rock went into the restroom. Fifteen minutes later, he came out wearing his robe and towel drying his hair. He dropped the towel to his shoulders, and went to the armoire. After rummaging through it for a few minutes, he pulled out a semi nice outfit. He got changed and went upstairs, where he heard laughter.

"And here he is now," Min said as he walked into the sitting room. She had been talking to all of the Ops, Searchman, Gutsman, and an embarrassed Forte.

"Ok ok ok ok ok, continue with the story!" Netto said quickly. Min laughed.

"Ok, so I start to chase Lykaios through the town, and we wind up at the castle. I arrive just in time to see him get surrounded by the fighters. I zap them, and while they're down, tell Lykaios to run and find Tabor and Rock. He rushes inside and they start to attack me. I start firing lightning and lightning arrows at them, trying to block their swords and shields. It took me five minutes to destroy them all. Afterwards, I rushed into the castle, and ran into Lykaios, Rock, and an unconscious Tabor. I zapped Tabor to wake him up, and we fought our way up the stairs. We get to the top, and try to get to the edge. Two minutes later we're on our dragons and flying away," she finished.

"That's a good story," Meiru commented. Min smiled as Blues and Roll entered the room.

"Oh, Rock, what's this I hear about you having a girlfriend?" Min asked in a slightly teasing tone. Both Rock and Roll blushed. "Are you serious?" Rock smiled and walked over to Roll.

"Sure am," he smiled as he hugged her.

"Man, I wish that I could've seen the look on Caitlin's face when you said that," Min laughed as Tabor and Lykaios entered. "So, are we going to go eat dinner now?"

"Yeah," Rock said as they walked to the balcony. "Lykaios, can you create something to take us all down at once?"

"Fine, but Caitlin might be able to get on it," he joked.

"Just do it." Lykaios shrugged and raised a platform to the balcony, from the ground. He then added railings before telling everyone to 'get on'.

"Are you sure that this thing is safe?" asked Enzan as he looked to the ground.

"I am ninety percent sure that it won't break, if that's what you mean." Enzan gulped before Blues pulled him onto the platform. As soon as they were all on, Lykaios lowered them slowly, and a minute later they were on the ground, and the platform put itself back into the earth.

"There you are," said a guard who ran up to the group.

"Kolya, we told you that we'd be a little late," Min groaned as they started to walk towards the gate.

"Yes, but the king wanted me to 'escort' you or something. I don't know," Kolya voiced. "Well, we should get going." Min rolled her eyes as Kolya turned around, and he led them to the doors of the main dining hall. As the guards opened the door, he bowed and walked away.

"This is it," Roll whispered to Rock.

"Don't worry, he's nice," he whispered back as the doors finished opening and they were led inside and to the table. They sat down and looked to the king. He smiled at them before calling in the food.

"Dinner is served," said one of the chefs as they sat the silver platters on the table. Everyone thanked the chefs and waiters as they began their meal.

**End Chapter**

(1) a Coeurl is a leopard like creature with two long 'whiskers' on either side of it's face. if you really want to know what it looks like, google image search it.

(2) Hiryuu are friendly dragons that I have serving the king.

(3) This is the 'animal speech'. To people, it would sound like growls and howls, so I 'translated' it for you. **  
**

Ok, I know that I haven't updated in a while. I was working on an essay all Christmas break, and had very little time to write. But with school starting up, and basically a free period every other day, I think I'll be able to update soon. Thanks for not giving up on this story. And PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

I'd like to thank LemmingRebel for reviewing. Don't worry if you have an account or now, all of you who read, I have anonymous reviews on. And reviews make me want to update more than once every three months.

**Begin Chapter**

"How was your trip to our fine city?" the king asked after the meal.

"It was interesting to say the least," Blues replied. They had all retired to a small sitting room off of the throne room. The room was decorated with blood red wallpaper, a wooden floor with elegant rugs, and large leather couches. On one wall was an old style fireplace. A large armchair was placed near it for the king. Rock and Roll shared a small couch, Blues, Enzan, and Forte sat on another, and Laika, Searchman, and Maylu sat on the third, and the rest of Rock's team on a couch. Gutsman and Deako sat on the floor by Maylu, and Netto had stretched out in front of the fireplace. "Comfy Netto?"

"Very," he yawned as he laid his head on his arms. Rock snickered at his Op.

"Interesting? That's it? Yeah right," Forte said. "Your majesty, the trip was long, hard, and boring."

"Manners Forte," Roll whispered to him. The king laughed.

"Well, at least he's honest. Most honest opinion I've heard in a while; well, outside of the main people I see everyday." He smiled at Rock. "You've become more open as well, Lucio."

"I guess stress does that to people."

"That it does. Now, I need to ask you a few questions," the king looked to Forte, Searchman, Blues, and Gutsman. "Do you know about when the army will get here? Have you run into the Bastok army at all?"

"Yeah, we ran into some scouts in Windurst, but Forte and me took care of them," Netto said.

"What happened?" asked Rock.

"Two of them got Meiru and me when we were walking, and tried to kill us," he smiled at Rock's face. "But I got one of them, and Forte scared off the other one."

"You took on two Bastok fighters?"

"Yeah, he did," Forte interjected. "He took one out and seriously injured a second. If he hadn't he would've died."

"I'm not saying he shouldn't have done that Forte, it the fact that he was capable of taking them on. Well, I guess taking on fifty at once is much harder than two," he glared at Forte, and the gesture was returned. Roll was looking in between the two, hoping that a fight wouldn't break out.

"Boys, boys, calm down," the king said. "I don't want to have any fights before the war."

"Sorry sir," Rock said as he sat back in the sofa. Roll leaned her head on his arm.

"You were asking about the army before, right?" asked Searchman.

"Yes, did you see anyone else?"

"Well, when we were in Bastok, it seemed to me that their army was quick on their feet. And they didn't have but a day or two to mobilize before we left so they are probably five days behind, if they decided to trek through the jungle," Searchman told him.

"I'll get everyone to start preparing the city for the fighters. Thank you for your help," he smiled. "Now, I bet that you're all tired. Get some sleep, and Lucio, I'm going to need to talk to you in the morning. How does 10-ish sound?"

"I'll be there," he replied with a slight bow. Everyone stood and started to file out of the room. A few minutes later and they were back in the tower. Tabor looked at the clock and yawned.

"Hey guys, it's 10, time for bed," he said. Netto groaned.

"Do we have to? I'm not tired," he whined.

"I say you do, and what I say goes as long as you're sharing a room with me," Rock said as he messed with Netto's hair. Netto suppressed a yawn as he went down the stairs to his room. Rock rolled his eyes as he followed his Op down the stairs. He entered his room and changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed as Netto crawled into his. "'Night Netto."

"'Night."

------------

The next day, Rock woke up early, gotten dressed, and made breakfast for everyone. Since today was his team's day off, they were all sleeping in, and no one had woken up by 9:50. _"Oh well,"_ he thought as he put the food in the oven to keep it warm. He wrote a note and placed it on the counter before heading to his meeting. Five minutes later Forte entered the kitchen looking for food.

"_If I were food where would I be?"_ he asked himself. _"I'd be in my stomach because I would have eaten me already."_ He snickered at his joke and saw the note.

Food's in the oven. Plates are on the counter with the silverware. Don't make a mess. I'm meeting the king now.

Rock

9:55 am (jeez, how long are you people going to sleep anyway!?)

Forte rolled his eyes as he took a plate and sat down to eat. A few minutes after that, Blues, Enzan, Tabor, Laika, and Lykaios entered the kitchen, took some food, and joined Forte. "Rock left already I suppose," Lykaios yawned.

"Well, his meeting did start three minutes ago," Forte said in between bites.

"Yeah, and he's never late to anything," Tabor replied. "Oh well."

---

"If we start locking down the city now, and making sure that Windurst will come to our aid, we should be able to fend off any attack," the General said.

"Still, I think that we should build some smaller walls around our larger one just in case," Rock said. "If Bastok takes the majority of their forces, there will be around one million forces. We have ten thousand if we take every single mage that is capable of fighting, and all of the creatures that are on our side. We are depending on Windurst to come with backup."

"Are you volunteering to start the out of city fortifications?" the king asked.

"Yes sir."

"Very well. Take the best land manipulators, including Lykaios and Alger, and if you want, your brother, and get started right away." Rock bowed and walked out. "Now, what should we do with the rest of the army?"

---

Rock decided to grab Alger before Lykaios, and so he headed to their floor. He found their room and knocked on the door, and was almost instantaneously glomped by Min. "Oh Lucio! I knew you'd come to me!" Rock, who had hit his head on the floor, just groaned.

"I need to talk to Alger, so would you please GET OFF!" he growled. Min hugged him one last time before moving. He glared at her and saw Alger at the door.

"Min, why do you only attack him? He obviously doesn't like you that way," Alger sighed as he helped Rock up. "You needed to see me?"

"Yeah, I need you to get some other mages that you trust to help build a smaller wall outside of the big one."

"I trust that you're going to get people too." Rock nodded. "Well, I'll get going then. See ya out there." The two walked towards the opposite exits. Rock made it outside to the stables, and got a ride up to the tower from Orinda. He told the dragon he would only be a minute, and went inside.

"Lykaios, Netto, come'ere," he yelled. A minute later they appeared.

"Morning Rock. We missed you at breakfast," said Lykaios.

"Yeah, well, you should have woken up sooner. Anyways, we need to go and round up some earth movers and go build a small wall around the city."

"Why?" asked Netto.

"Because we're going to strengthen our defenses. We don't have that many fighters in the city, so until backup arrives, we're going to be on the defensive, and we need to go now." Netto sighed and followed Rock and Lykaios out the door and down to the ground.

---

"The walls need to be at least three feet high, and surround the majority of the wall. These are just for slowing the fighters down, and buying some more time," Rock told the leaders of the project, mainly Alger, Lykaios, and two other mages named Joshi and Shounen.

"Wouldn't building them higher be a better defense?" asked Shounen.

"Yes, but time is of the essence. We don't know how fast they can travel, or how many of them there are, so we need to work quickly, and if we have time, go back and strengthen them. So each of you go and start building, and distributing orders." They saluted and walked away, leaving Netto and Rock alone. "Ok, we're going to start building here."

"How can you? You're powers are fire."

"Yes, but Earth and Fire don't have a problem with each other. Its Wood and Fire that don't work together. Now, let's build a wall."

---

"Sir, we have located around fifteen mages outside of their protective walls. What are your orders?" asked a sergeant of the fighter military

"Begin the attack before they have a chance to retreat," said the general. The sergeant saluted and left the tent. He looked around the jungle, rounding up the mages that they had captured, and pulling some forces.

"Everyone, we're moving out. There's an excellent opportunity that we can't pass up. There are some foolish mages who have decided to leave their city to do something, and we have an attack of opportunity. Mages, your job is to get their defenses down. If you don't, you will be killed." A collective gulp ran through their little group. "MOVE OUT!"

---

"There, we're just about done with this part, I'll just go and check the other side," Rock said as he crawled over the five foot wall. As he started to search he heard a yell. Spinning around towards the tree line, he saw five mages running towards him. "Netto, go and find Lykaios and get inside the wall."

"What's wrong Rock?" he asked.

"There're some mages running, and I just want to be safe. Tell everyone to start getting into the city."

"Sure thing," Netto said as he started running. Rock waved to the mages, calling them. They quickly made it to him.

"Thank you so much. We are trying to outrun the fighter army, but one of us got captured by them. He's the weakest of us, and we're worried about him. Could you help us find him?"

"Sure, in fact, go to the city and tell them to send some of the Coeruls. Tell them that Lucio sent you." They thanked him as they ran off, and Rock headed to the jungle. When he was completely behind the tree line, he heard something crack up ahead. Cautiously, he approached the sound. He found a shred of a mage robe on the ground. Suddenly, he felt something hard connect with the back of his skull. He fell to the ground, and was roughly shoved over. When he looked up, he saw two fighters standing above him.

"Ooh, look at the little mage. So you thought you could save the 'little lost mage' did you? Well guess what, there is no other mage. Those mages are part of our army, and are no doubt starting to destroy your city as we speak." The fighter kicked him in the stomach. "So, are you going to defend yourself?" Rock started to stand up, but was kicked down again. When he looked back up, he saw that he was surrounded.

"Come on, defend yourself," one of the other fighters said. Rock started to prepare a spell, but stopped when he felt a sword enter his shoulder. The fighters laughed as he cried out in pain.

"Whoops, I guess we forgot to tell you no spells," said the fighter whose sword was in Rock's shoulder. "Now defend yourself like a man!" He ripped the sword out. Rock quickly got up and dodged another sword. He then punched one of them in the face, which earned him a sword in his back. He cried out again as he fell.

"Damn, if he keeps screaming, then the others will know where he is. Where's that white mage of ours? I could of sword he was here just a second ago," said the one who had just attacked Rock. Suddenly, a flash of light filled the area, and the white mage appeared.

"You called?"

"Yeah, we need to send a message to the mages through this guy. Didn't you say that there was a part of the body that produces magic? Like an organ or something?"

"Yes, and it is located right next to the heart," the mage said kneeling down next to Rock who was trying to get up. The white mage pulled out his iron staff and hit Rock at the base of the neck, knocking him out. "Now if you cut through here, you could get that out in one swipe." He marked the spot, and the fighters removed the magic producer. "Now let's get out of here before something comes."

"Like what?" one of the fighters asked. He was answered by a giant roar. Orinda came crashing through the trees, followed by Tau and five other Coeruls. They promptly dispatched the fighters and the mage, and approached Rock.

"L-Lucio?" Tau asked, nuzzling him, trying to get him up. "Come on buddy, wake up."

"_Rock-kun? Please wake up,"_ Orinda said through their link. "Tau, help get him on my back." Tau and the others carefully sat him in the saddle, and they took off towards the city.

---

Back at the city, the five mages who Rock sent were trying to get everyone to believe them. "I'm telling you, the fighters are in the woods and are about to attack!"

"Why should we believe you?" asked Alger as he walked up. Lykaios and Netto stood in the background.

"Because we were captured by them!"

"Where's Lucio?" Lykaios said as he watched the skies for a sign of the dragon or the Coeruls that had left.

"The only way that we could get out was if we told someone that there was another mage in the forest! You have to believe us!"

"We do believe you. Come with me to the castle and you can tell your tale," Lykaios said as he guided them through the crowd, followed by Alger. Netto, however stayed behind. "You coming Netto?"

"No, I'm going to wait for Rock." Lykaios shrugged and walked away. Netto sighed as he went to sit by the gate. Twenty minutes later, he saw the shadow of Orinda overhead, and he saw the Coeruls running.

"Close the gate," the one called Tau shouted. Netto ran over to him.

"Tau, where's Rock, I mean Lucio?" He watched as Tau's face dropped.

"Kid, you had better come with me to the castle." Puzzled, he followed. A few minutes later the castle came into view. He watched as Rock was carefully lifted from the saddle, looking a little red, placed on a rolling table, and was whisked into the castle. "I'm sorry, but he was like that when we got there. The fighters show no mercy to anyone that they capture. But cheer up, I'm sure that he'll be fixed up in a jiffy and back in time for dinner." Netto sat down on the grass in utter shock, looking at the door, barely noticing when Tau came over and laid down beside him and when Orinda came up behind him. He looked up and saw the huge dragon lick his cheek to try and cheer him up. He leaned against the dragon, idly petting Tau.

---

"What's Orinda doing down there?" asked Tabor as he looked down at the courtyard.

"What's it look like he's doing, he's spending some 'quality time' with Netto," Forte said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but I don't see Rock anywhere." This piqued the attention of Roll and Meiru. They hurried out of the kitchen and onto the balcony.

"Where is Netto? Isn't he supposed to be helping Rock with something" the white mages asked. Suddenly Lykaios appeared, riding his little 'elevator' with a sullen face.

"Uh Roll and, could you come with me for a second, we need your help with something down in the castle." She nodded and followed him. When they reached the main hall, they saw it in an uproar. Strategic commanders were running to give orders as fast as they could. "Through here," Lykaios said as he led her to a smaller room off to the side of the hall. Medical scrolls lined the walls, some White mages were standing around a figure on the table. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was Rock.

"Wh-what happened?" she asked, looking at the pale, comatose mage on the table.

"According to the escapees from the fighters, he was lured into the forest while he sent the other mages to get some help. When the Coeruls found him, he was like this. How much do you know about hume anatomy?"

"Enough to know how to heal it," she replied.

"Then you know about the magic producing organ." She nodded. "The fighters removed that from him. And when the mages in here tried to heal him, all he got were some magic burns. We need everyone's help to save Rock." Roll nodded and started to stitch him up.

---

"What's wrong Hikari?" Enzan asked as he walked over to Netto, who was still sitting by the two animals. He saw the usually happy-go-lucky kid staring at the door of the castle as if he was waiting for something to explode.

"Nothing," he mumbled as he looked down to the grass.

"Nothing my ass. First you're down here throwing a pity party, then Roll disappears, and then I get word that the fighters are right on our doorstep. What's bothering you?" Netto looked up at the older teen and sighed.

"I don't want to talk about it." Enzan sighed angrily.

"Tell me now. What happened out there?" _"Jeez, I'm just trying to be nice for once in my life,"_ he thought.

"Rock was attacked by fighters and is currently in critical condition in a healing room. That's what happened out there," Tau explained. Netto sighed and closed his eyes.

"Well Netto, we should probably get back up to the tower where it's safer. That's what Rock would want. Plus, Meiru is worried and sent me down here to get you." Netto snickered.

"Meiru ordered the 'almighty' Enzan on an errand. Things are starting to look up. Well, we had better not keep Meiru waiting," Netto said with fake mirth. "I just want to wait for Rock a bit longer."

"Nope, Min says that it's going to rain soon, and that you need to get inside."

"So, who are you more afraid of?" he asked as they were picked up by Orinda. Enzan thought about it for a second be fore replying.

"Yes."

**End Chapter**

Well, I'm sorry if it's a little choppy. I have been working on this over the past months, so it's hard to keep the flow right. Review please.


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